Sex, War and Robots

Fugazi - 20,000 songs

2011-12-26T02:40:00.000-08:00

I have decided to review all 830 or so shows in the Fugazi live series!

Actually, I won't be doing that. I changed my mind.

Top 30 Albums of 2011

2011-12-10T22:40:00.000-08:00

30. Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain

29. White Denim - D

28. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

27. Burial - Street Halo EP

26. Melodie Nelson - Meditations on the Sun

25. Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams

24. Gorillaz - The Fall

23. Six Organs of Admittance - Asleep on the Floodplain

22. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

21. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

20. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs Evil

19. 50 Foot Wave - With Love from the Men's Room EP

18. Boris - Attention Please

17. Zomby - Dedication

16. The Pierces - You & I

15. Leader Cheetah - Lotus Skies

14. Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

13. Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest

12. Gotye - Making Mirrors

11. Wire - Red Barked Tree

10. Cut Copy - Zonoscope

9. Radiohead - The King of Limbs

8. Alela Diane - Alela Diane & Wild Divine

7. Battles - Gloss Drop

6. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

5. Tom Waits - Bad As Me

4. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

3. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse

2. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

1. Boris - Heavy Rocks

100th post

2011-11-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

I've traditionally posted youtube clips when I know this blog needs an update, but I can't think of one. So in honour of that, I'm celebrating my 100th post with 100 youtube clips!

1. Throwing Muses - Dizzy

2. The Sex Pistols - No Fun (Stooges cover, live at Winterland)

3. Robert Pollard - Window of My World (in-studio acoustic demo)

4. Laura Cantrell - Love Vigilantes (New Order cover, live)

5. Faith No More - Evidence (live on Hey Hey It's Saturday 1995)

6. Bad Brains - We Will Not (live)

7. Brak - Friendship is Like An Ointment

8. Dappled Cities - Answer is Zero (live)

9. Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally (live)

10. Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely (live)

11. A Gun Called Tension - Gold Fronts

12. Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind (live)

13. Eels - Novocaine for the Soul

14. Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken (live)

15. Beck - Black Angel's Death Song (Velvet Underground cover for Record Club)

16. Michael Jackson - Beat It

18. Weird Al Yankovic - Eat It

19. Neko Case - People Got a Lotta Nerve

20. Duran Duran - A View to a Kill

21. Magic Dirt - Ice

22. Throwing Muses - Hook in Her Head (live)

23. Mansun - The Chad Who Loved Me (live)

24. Custard - (Feels Like) Ringo (live)

25. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way (live)

26. The Cranberries - Zombie

27. Devo - Freedom of Choice (live)

28. Boris - Missing Pieces (live)

29. Britney Spears - Toxic

30. Midnight Oil - Sometimes (live)

31. Fugazi - Margin Walker (live)

32. Iron and Wine - Sodom, South Georgia (live)

33. Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose (live)

34. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On/What's Happening Brother (live)

35. Warpaint - Undertow (live, acoustic)

36. Beck - Master Song (Leonard Cohen cover for Record Club)

37. Devo - Through Being Cool

38. The Clean - Tally Ho

39. Paula Abdul & MC Skat Cat - Opposites Attract

40. Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy

41. Radiohead - Talk Show Host (live)

42. Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea (live)

43. Gang of Four - What We All Want (live)

44. The Triffids - Wide Open Road

45. King Missle - Detachable Penis

46. Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life (live)

47. Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know

48. Laura Veirs - Through December (live)

49. Boris - Korosu

50. Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon (live)

51. Owen Pallett - Fantasy (Mariah Carey cover)

52. Johnny Cash - Cocaine Blues (live)

53. Garbage - Vow

54. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

55. Alice in Chains - Would? (live)

56. St. Vincent - Cruel

57. Mogwai - Travel is Dangerous (live)

58. Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al

59. ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Relative Ways (live)

60. Cream - Sunshine of Your Love

61. Mercury Rev - Young Mans' Stride

62. Dean Stockwell - Alphabet Song Rap from Quantum Leap (soundtrack version) - audio only

63. Hunters & Collectors - Talking to a Stranger

65. Madonna - Into the Groove

66. Regurgitator - Miffy's Simplicity

67. Guided By Voices - My Kind of Soldier

68. The Roots - Here I Come (live)

69. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir (live)

70. The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Want to Get Over You (live)

71. Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach for My Revolver (live)

72. Belly - Super-connected

73. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

74. Rebecca Black - Friday

75. Slint - Good Morning, Captain (live)

76. The Clean - Anything Could Happen

77. Mazzy Star - Fade Into You (live)

78. ESG - UFO (live)

79. OFF! - Jefferey Lee Pierce/I Don't Belong (live)

80. The Breeders - Cannonball

81. Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (live)

82. Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance (Top of the Pops)

83. Wild Flag - Black Tiles (live)

84. Mercury Rev - Chasing a Bee

85. B.B. King - Why I Sing the Blues (live)

86. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (live)

87. The Church - Reptile (live)

88. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (live)

89. Not From There - Sich Offnen (live)

90. Sonic Youth - Kool Thing

91. Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

92. Brak - The Metalhead Song

93. The Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

94. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (live)

95. Iron & Wine - Naked As We Came (live)

96. Nirvana - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (live)

97. The Clash - Charlie Don't Surf (live)

98. R.E.M. - West of the Fields (live)

99. Gillian Welch - Revelator (live)

100. Super Furry Animals - Sex, War and Robots (Wauvenfold mix)

Extempore #10: Got 99 posts

2011-11-11T19:54:00.001-08:00

But a bitch ain't one.

Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign (live in Sweden)

2011-11-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

Extempore #9: Believe Me

2011-11-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

I came to warn you.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

2011-11-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

When you're as bad as Tom Waits, you don't need to release an album every two years; the fans will wait. But how do you keep doing it when you're up to album number 17?

The answer, according to his wife, is don't fuck around. Get in the studio, record your songs and fuck off. 2004's Real Gone, Waits' last album of all new material, didn't exactly suffer from a paucity of ideas, but a glance at the album's running time of 72 minutes confirmed that not all of those ideas were any good. Not only were there too many songs, but the songs themselves were too long, something the skip button can't help with.

Bad As Me neither totally falls back on the tried and true nor labouriously tries to re-invent the sound Waits has been known for since his Island days, but rather varies the approach in subtle yet rewarding ways, particularly in its use of the studio as an instrument. Some past collaborators also liven things up with their welcome return; Les Claypool makes a few guest appearances, as do Marc Ribot and Keith Richards (sometimes on the same track!). Waits' son Casey also appears as part of his fathers percussive onslaught, and Flea makes his debut appearance for Waits.

To say that most artists' 17th albums don't sound as fresh as Bad As Me, or as brutal as it occasionally does ("Hell Broke Luce" - holy shit) is an understatement. Most artists' 4th albums can't manage that. Not only that, but it repositions Waits above almost any other musician out there, suggests that Waits hasn't finished dropping albums that will be part of any era's essential listening and reminds us that his fanbase is bigger than ever. It doesn't matter how long it is until his next album; they'll wait.

Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze (live at the Royal Albert Hall)

2011-11-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Boris will MELT YOUR FACE!!!!!!!!11

2011-10-29T03:46:00.000-07:00

Nirvana - Nevermind (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)

2011-10-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

There is nothing I can say that so many others haven't thought before, so I won't bother discussing Nevermind as an album. If you've found your way here then you know how to find many contemporary and retrospective reviews, and besides, there's enough content here as it is.

First of all, the original album remastered. Ha. If you're wondering what a remaster of an album from 1991 can improve on from the original, the answer is usually "not much". The remastered Nevermind, as is typically the case these days, is a victim of brickwall mastering. Geffen ignored the opportunity to buck the trend and lead by example. For an example of tasteful, principled remasters, look at the recent round of Pink Floyd reissues. Worse still, they decided to go with the original cover art instead of retaking the iconic shot with a 20 year-old Spencer Elden. That's really the biggest missed opportunity here, and one the record company should be ashamed over. Actually, you can sort of see that here (safe for work): http://sflchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/spencer-elden-swimming.jpg (sorry for the "bare" url; I had trouble with the hyperlink for some reason). The remastered CD is padded with some previously available b-sides and some live tracks that are duplicates of those available on the Super Deluxe edition, but not the Deluxe.

The second disc consists of The Smart Studio Sessions, The Boombox Rehearsals and BBC Sessions. It's pretty much all academia except for the band's rare cover of The Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now" (if you don't already own With the Lights Out) and a decent version of "Sappy" that's a big different from the one you're used to, which you'll only otherwise find on bootlegs.

Disc 3 brings us to the material exclusive to the Super Deluxe edition with the Devonshire Mixes - the mixes Butch Vig made before the album was handed to Andy Wallace. The difference between some songs and their better known counterparts are negligible while others have various trade-offs, but the most noticeable advantage across the board is the more organic drum sound (Vig, as you're probably aware, is a drummer himself).

The Super Deluxe edition comes with a DVD of Nirvana's famous concert at the Paramount on October 13, 1991; if you're inclined to just listen to the audio, that's what Disc 4 is for. As it comes only two years after Live at Reading, probably my favourite live album ever, I can't help but note that it's not a patch on that one. That said, it's still a hell of a concert, and having been performed just over a month after Nevermind came out, probably made lifelong fans of many of its attendees.

Boris - Pink (live at The Knitting Factory, New York 3-3-2008

2011-10-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

I love these guys.

Thoughts on stuff ('n junk)

2011-10-01T09:54:00.001-07:00

Kristin Hersh, who has been blogging longer and better than me, wrote a piece a few years ago called Thoughts on Sustainability. It is in part an introduction to her Cash Music enterprise which allows listeners to purchase music via her various projects' websites (and obtain some for free) with no label involvement.

The essay briefly touches on the survival of of the blandest phenomenon in present day music. It got me thinking that poor quality music gets a break because art is supposedly subjective and therefore exempt from having to meet any sort of standard before being made available for purchase. A dishwasher that doesn't wash your dishes would be pulled off the market; an album that doesn't entertain is permissible. There should, of course, be standards. Metallica fans tried to return their Death Magnetic CDs because the brickwall mastering the band approved introduced distortion that was not present in the master recording. I applaud them for taking a stand against a practice that should be unacceptable. A company that intentionally builds an undisclosed flaw into a toaster and doesn't factor it into the price would be prosecuted. Vinyl is less affected by modern mastering trends, but is overpriced and has its own limitations.

The quality of the music itself has no bearing on price either, despite the fact that it is not entirely subjective. You might prefer Wesley Willis to The Beatles and The Shaggs to Pink Floyd (or claim you do), and that's all well and good, but to say that they are better is not. But I'm not talking about music recorded cheaply by people of questionable musical talent. I'm talking about music recorded expensively by people of questionable musical talent. Music that goes through a homogenisation process at every stage of its development with the end goal of creating a product to be consumed by millions should not cost the same as music created with the end goal of creating a lasting work of art. Check used CD shops - while they stil exist - for a more meritocratic pricing hierarchy. There you'll find Hanson's Christmas album for as reasonable a price as can be. Fast food is cheaper than restaurant quality food, and with good reason. Both music and food produced by giant corporations by definition has to be stripped of any unique flavour in order to be palatable to a huge market. We all feel like a hamburger every now and then, just as we all sometimes feel like a song we can nod our head to in the car and then forget about; we just shouldn't have to pay as much as we're being made to.

Battles - My Machines feat Gary Numan video

2011-09-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Wild Flag - Romance video

2011-09-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

15 Great Albums That Are Shorter Than The King of Limbs

2011-09-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

The King of Limbs may be Radiohead's most divisive album since Kid A or perhaps ever. One of the criticisms leveled at it by its detractors (and some of its supporters) is its moderate length. It is Radiohead's shortest album (37:24) and contains 8 tracks, which is at least two less than any of their other albums. Fuck that. It may be short, but it has girth. The best music is all about economy, not excess. Some of the albums listed below are short because the songs make their point and then fuck off. Others have a modest number of fairly long songs. Some hark back to the days when you didn't have 80 minutes to play with, while others were recorded by bands that are smart enough to know that just because you can make an album that long doesn't mean you should. They're all shorter than The King of Limbs, and most of them are better.

The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
14 tracks, 35:01

Can - Soundtracks (1970)
7 tracks, 35:09)

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On? (1971)
9 tracks, 35:38

Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
11 tracks, 28:22

The Clash - The Clash (1977)
14 tracks, 35:18

Wire - Pink Flag (1977)
21 tracks, 35:37

Robert Cray - Who's Been Talkin' (1978)
10 tracks, 35:39

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978)
11 tracks, 34:24

Midnight Oil - Head Injuries (1979)

9 tracks, 34:04

The Cure - Faith (1981)
8 tracks, 36:54

Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
13 tracks, 32:50

The Breeders - Pod (1990)
12 tracks, 30:35

Weezer - Pinkerton (1996)
10 tracks, 34:36

Neko Case - Blacklisted (2002)
13 tracks, 37:18

Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (2002)
12 tracks, 34:50

2011-09-02T00:54:00.001-07:00

I told the witchdoctor I was in love with you,
I told the witchdoctor I was in love with you,
And then the witchdoctor he told me what to do,
He said that

Oo, ee, oo ah ah,
Ting tang,
Wala wala bing bang,
Oo ee, oo ah ah,
Ting tang,
Walawala bang bang

Oo, ee, oo ah ah,
Ting tang,
Wala wala bing bang,
Oo ee, oo ah ah,
Ting tang,
Walawala bang bang

The Cookie Monster Has Been Drinking: Brilliant Tom Waits/Cookie Monster mashup

2011-08-20T05:09:00.000-07:00

Extempore #8: Airline Food

2011-08-16T01:02:00.001-07:00

What's the deal with those little packets of peanuts they give you?

Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done (live on the Johnny Cash show)

2011-08-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

Flux Capacitor: Skip Spence - Oar (1969)

2011-07-19T00:25:00.000-07:00

The story goes something like this: Skip Spence, guitarist for American psych rockers Moby Grape, was taking copious amounts of acid and dating a Wiccan who convinced him that his bandmates were evil. He then broke down their hotel room door with an axe and tried to kill them, earning him a six month stint in a mental institution, after which he recorded Oar, his only solo album. Legend has it that the album sold 600 copies, making it the worst seller in the history of Columbia Records. In any case it was a massive flop, but gained a snowballing cult status over time. Thirty years later, three things happened. First, Oar was issued on CD for the second time, this version including a batch of incomplete bonus tracks. Second, Spence died of lung cancer at the age of 52. Third, a tribute album called More Oar was released. Spence got to hear it; how he felt about it I don't know. It featured covers of every Oar song (including the bonus tracks) by artists such as Tom Waits, Robert Plant, Mudhoney and Beck (who contributed an excellent, fleshed-out version of the unfinished "Halo of Gold" and more recently covered the whole album, minus the bonus tracks, as part of his Record Club series).

Spence played everything on Oar, and it is the musical equivalent of a lonely, crazy man mumbling to himself. The album visits psychedelic rock ("War in Peace", "Grey/Afro"), folk and country ("Cripple Creek", "Broken Heart") among other styles, but even the upbeat numbers have a deflating effect. The simple acoustic numbers are some of the best; "Weighted Down (The Prison Song)" sounds exactly that, as if gravity is forcing Spence's staccato strumming almost to a halt. "Broken Heart" is given one of his most animated vocal performances, which is a stark contrast to the metaphors for disappointment such as a parched cowboy reaching a lake only to drown. The album's original sequence ends with the amazing, experimental "Grey/Afro". Like the bonus tracks, it's all bass, drums and vocals. Unlike those, it's nine and a half minutes long and makes extensive use of the early analog flanging techniques popularised by The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. It's a worthy coda to a quaint yet engaging document from a strange young man who never quite found his place in the musical landscape.

50 Foot Wave - With Love from the Men's Room EP

2011-07-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

50 Foot Wave is a punkish hard rock trio led by Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses, solo). The last three Muses albums give an idea of what to expect, at least in terms of volume, but this trend of Hersh's is no compensatory gimmick; it's just a case of the amps catching up with the intensity of her delivery.

Not that I'm not looking forward to a second full length from 50 Foot Wave, but an EP is a well suited vehicle because small doses might just be the best way to enjoy the band. With Love from the Men's Room is a true sonic assault, opening with guitar squeals over an insistent rhythm and not really abating at any point. There's not a lot of buildup, but a lot of release, and no drama lurking beneath the surface; it's all out in the open.

By the way, With Love from the Men's Room is available for free. Hersh has been releasing it track by track at http://50footwave.cashmusic.org/, the final track having just been uploaded.

Radiohead - The King of Limbs From the Basement

2011-07-12T03:08:00.000-07:00

1. Bloom
2. Daily Mail
3. Feral
4. Little By Little
5. Codex
6. Separator
7. Lotus Flower
8. Staircase
9. Morning Mr. Magpie
10. Give Up the Ghost

Wild Flag - Romance single

2011-06-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

Wild Flag is Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney), Mary Timony (Helium) and Rebecca Cole (The Minders), but then you either knew that by now or you don't care. Or maybe you knew and you didn't care. If that's the case, you'll have no interest in the link to their new single below.

Wild Flag - Romance

download courtesy of

Devo - Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA (live)

2011-06-25T04:44:00.000-07:00

You're not worth a bucket of piss to me if you don't like Devo.

You Don't Update Your Blog Very Often

2011-06-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, no shit. Wanna know why? I write mostly about music I like. I don't offer a totally unique perspective and I don't claim to, but I try to offer a perspective that is, above all else, mine, even if I'm not telling you anything you don't already know or that isn't widely available about the music I'm telling you about. My problem is that these days I might as well be writing about Halley's Comet or Dean Cain. Mark Twain, nominally a better a writer than me, said that writing is "5% inspiration, 95% perspiration". Where the fuck is my inspiration? Last year I compiled a list of my Top 50 Albums of the Decade. The top 10 is as follows:

1. Augie March - Sunset Studies (2000)
2. Augie March - Strange Bird (2002)
3. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
4. The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
5. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
6. Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love (2005)
7. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
8. Mercury Rev - All is Dream (2001)
9. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)
10. Tom Waits - Alice (2002)

Some time after I finished that list, I attempted to compile my Top 50 Albums of the 90s, but I quit because it was impossible. However, if you look at my 50 Favourite Albums (the accuracy of which I do not endorse), you can extrapolate that my 10 favourite albums of the 90s, according to the list, are as follows:

1. Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
2. Mansun - Six (1998)
3. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs (1998)
4. Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern (1996)
5. Pavement - Brighten the Corners (1997)
6. Blur - 13 (1999)
7. Blur - Parklife (1994)
8. Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider (1999)
9. Depeche Mode - Violator (1990)
10. Pavement - Wowee Zowee (1995)

That's as accurate as such a list could hope to be. The 00s list would lose a confrontation with the 90s list, but it would go toe to toe with it for several rounds and be able to hold its head up in dignified defeat. The pattern probably holds for the next ten albums or so, but from what I recall of the data I compiled for the aborted 90s list, the back 30 for the 00s can't offer it much of a fight. Number 50 for the 00s is The Runners Four (2004) by Deerhoof. I never decided on a number 50 for the 90s list, but the most likely candidate was Pinkerton (1996) by Weezer. The Runners Four is a very good album and could make an annual top 5 in a good year. Such an album in that position proves that the last decade did have some depth. But compared to Pinkerton? Yikes! Never mind going toe to toe; The Runners Four would be lucky to last three rounds against a single snare beat from "Tired of Sex".

Bear in mind that the last two decades were equally formative for me as a music listener. Half of each were essential. The bias towards the latter half of the 90s in the list above reflects the fact that I started listening to music seriously in early 1995. My musical taste is always evolving, and while I'm always looking out for new artists (be they newcomers or just new to me), I don't discover them as quickly as many other people do. When I get into an artist, I thoroughly plunder their back catalogue at the expense of more rapidly discovering other artists. That's why it took a decade for me to come to a forced slowdown. This explains the bias in the 00s list towards the first half. I'd discovered many of what I consider the decade's best artists by the end of 2004, and with the discovery of new music becoming more of a conscious effort, enjoying the music was sometimes an effort, too.

However, I blame the music more than I blame me, and it's hard not to think that the 10s might by a long shot fail to stack up to the 00s. I turned [redacted] late last decade, so maybe this outlook is inevitable. I don't think I'm losing my objectivity, but then my grandmother doesn't think she's losing her short term memory and cognitive faculties. Weezer's output throughout its decade-and-a-half-and-still-going career produces downward a curve that, thankfully, exaggerates the sort I might draw to represent the decline of music in general on my worst day. I'm old enough to remember when the name carried entirely different connotations. The first Weezer album from 1994 still stands out as witty yet poignant pop-rock crafted with unassuming skill. Pinkerton is a raw, cathartic blast of youthful angst, again tempered (but this time barely) by that wit. Weezer's transition into the 00s, though, is the ugliest I can think of. After a five year break and the loss of Matt Sharp, they tried in vain to remake their debut. Now they're even worse; it's painful to hear Rivers Cuomo try to channel his glib, nerdy, 20-something self as a 40-something adolescent. It's almost as pathetic as that blogger whose longest post in some time is the one in which he whines about the very thing he claims to love.

Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

2011-06-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

Demolished Thoughts is a sonically dense and fascinating album, but amongst the acoustic guitars, mandolins, strings and other unplugged instruments, Thurston Moore's voice was the element I thought of most on my first listen. Sonic Youth songs such as "The Diamond Sea" prove that he can carry a tune without being smothered in blankets of noise, but who would have thought he could carry an entire acoustic album? He has, of course, had three decades to find ways to work with his limited range, which is something producer Beck also knows a thing or two about. But really I think the reason I focused on Moore's voice the first time around was because I thought it was really going to have to deliver. It does, but as it turns out, that's just a bonus. Demolished Thoughts is no "sit around and let me tell you a story" collection of folk songs; Moore's thoughts are appropriately fragmented. The majority of the album's more than fifty minute running time is devoted to long instrumental passages. If Beck plus acoustic guitars plus strings leads you to expect Beck's production to recall that of Nigel Godrich on Beck's mostly acoustic albums Mutations (1998) and Sea Change (2002), you'd be right. Demolished Thoughts sounds a lot like those, minus the experimental flourishes; there's enough going on here that the instruments can speak for themselves.

Dear Most Bands

2011-06-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

Melodie Nelson - Meditations on the Sun

2011-06-15T00:44:00.001-07:00

Meditations on the Sun is a short album trapped in Phil Spector-esque walls of harmonies and reverbed instruments, sort of as if you took the clean sound of Jesus and Mary Chain's Darklands and combined it with the reverb of Psychocandy. It organically blends and jumps to and from genres as disparate as twee pop and country noir. It's all pretty sparse, but it's the kind of album I'd make if I had a voice like Melodie Nelson, except, you know, more masculine. If you like good female vocals are a priority for you, you'll like Meditations on the Sun. If you've wanted Hugh Boyce (ex Dappled Cities) to get back behind a drum kit then there's that, too. Hell, if you like music, you'll probably find something to like.

For Geoff & Ange

2011-06-09T02:14:00.001-07:00

Battles - Gloss Drop

2011-06-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

The reaction of many fans to the departure of Tyondai Braxton from Battles - who sang on the band's mostly instrumental debut LP and preceeding EPs and made the smallest contribution instrumentally - says a lot about the strength of the band's original lineup as a unit. However, if we're to believe the band, it was a blessing in disguise following a series of uninspired recording sessions that would have led to a perfunctory second album. Instead they had to start from scratch and effectively skipped over the "awkward second album" cliche.

This particular three-legged dog has re-learnt to walk better than, say, REM in the late 90s. John Stanier still drums like an agitated robot, while David Kanopka and Ian Williams have kept the sound as dense as before. On the one hand, most of the sounds themselves aren't surprising - it seems Mirrored mostly exhausted the band's repertoire of weird sounds such as walls of delayed guitar and stabs from instruments you can't quite identify. On the other hand, it turns out they hadn't run out of ways to apply those sounds.

Gloss Drop isn't so much influenced by popular music as it is aware of its existence. This manifests itself in strange-for-Battles touches such as chord changes in places where you might actually expect them from another band. But of course probably the most talked about aspect of Gloss Drop is its handful of guest vocal spots. Two of these are, for my money, the worst songs on the album. "Ice Cream", featuring Matias Aguayo, sounds like a bad remix of a Vampire Weekend song. It's amazing it doesn't have steel drums. "Sundome" takes an ill-advised trip into World territory in its first half, and it actually does have steel drums. I hate steel drums. Two of the best tracks are also products of collaborations: Gary Numan fills a guest spot nobody else could have on "My Machines", sounding as if he's competing for attention over said gadgets, and "Sweetie and Shag", featuring Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead) is simultaneously the album's weirdest and most straightforward track. The vocal tracks are integrated seamlessly into the album, and if there's one aspect in which Gloss Drop is easily equal to Mirrored, it's its cohesion. Whether the core of the band is accompanied or playing on its own, each track sounds like a talented trio making the best of its circumstances.

This blog ain't gonna update itself

2011-05-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

But I wish it would.

Radiohead - The Butcher/Supercollider vinyl single (an in depth review)

2011-05-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

The Butcher is really good. It's all minimalist and shit. Supercollider is pretty good, too. It sounds very little like the piano version from a few years ago. It's also 7 minutes long and therefore has ended Paranoid Android's 14 year reign as Radiohead's longest song.

Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

2011-05-11T00:45:00.001-07:00

Bill Callahan - Apocalypse

2011-05-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

I don't put a lot of stock in lyrics. Partly it's because most lyricists ain't Shakespeare and partly it's because I'm not either. Mostly it's because I find the music the main concern when listening to, you know, music. Bill Callahan's no slouch in the lyric department, but the only reason I feel the need to probe his lyrics this time is his inclusion of the word "apocalypse" in the title of this album and two of its songs. Apocalypse literally means "revelation", but Callahan's journey as a songwriter stopped veering into unknown territory quite a while back. If there's any revelation here, it's Callahan's and he's keeping it to himself. The common usage of the word refers to the end of the world, but Callahan would never be that dramatic or anywhere near that sanctimonious. Whatever has ended or has been revealed will only make sense in the context of his future work. If it's anything, that is. The tendency of writers to over-reach and infer meaning that isn't there is another one of the reasons I usually stay away from that shit. But look how much space I've filled by discussing a single word! I have to admit it's partly because I don't know what to say about the music.

That isn't to say that the music isn't worthy of discussion. It's just that Apocalypse isn't going to surprise anyone who is familiar with Callahan's work under his own name, and I would only end up recycling adjectives from reviews of this album and others that I haven't read, but they may have. But Callahan's predictability is part of his appeal now; the quality of his work has reached a plateau, but it's a high one. Much like last year's live album Rough Travel for a Rare Thing, Apocalypse was recorded with a full band, but is still quite sparse and mostly acoustic. It's not the soundtrack to an apocalypse; it's an album you put on and have a drink, and if the world ends, the world ends.

Tom Waits

2011-03-26T04:55:00.001-07:00

Sex, War and Robots tips its hat to Tom Waits, who was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was about fucking time.

Yes, blogs wear hats. Deal with it.

Flux Capacitor: Throwing Muses - Untitled (Throwing Muses) (1986)

2011-03-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

There's no question that Throwing Muses deserve to be honoured in Flux Capacitor. They molded the then relatively new indie or "college" rock sound in the mid 80s more than most bands (and more than any other female-led band, if that matters), and, as the first American band signed to 4AD, permanently redefined the English label along with acolytes Pixies. The question is which album to pick, as their isn't really an accepted Throwing Muses classic album or ideal starting point. I've decided to go with the officially untitled debut for the same reason it was the first Muses album I listened to: why the hell not?

Cognitive dissonance set in straight away the first time I heard this album. My first thoughts were "this sounds familiar" and "I've never heard anything like this before". Kristin Hersh created the Throwing Muses sound by borrowing from REM, Wire, Joy Division, The Beatles and others, but, like the best innovators, fashioned it into something new. The debut never lets the listener get comfortable because it never sits still; you think the unrelenting post-punk ditty "Call Me" is going to set the tone for the rest of the album, but then the next track slows down the tempo and switches the time signature. The rhythmic shifts never stop, but Hersh's intricate arpeggios knit the whole thing together. Throwing Muses went on to release at least three albums as good as this one, but they wouldn't exist without this initial artistic triumph.

RIP Pinetop Perkins 1913-2011

2011-03-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately another musician has been taken before his time. Bluesman Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins died yesterday at the tender age of 97. Perkins played piano as a sideman for several decades, his most famous work being a 12 year stint in Muddy Waters' band. It was not until 1988 that he began releasing albums as a solo artist. In 2007, Perkins became the oldest artist to win a Grammy, winning for the collaborative live album Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas. He won the Best Traditional Blues album award at this year's Grammy Awards for 2010's Joined at the Hip with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Perkins was the oldest living bluesman to have played in the pre-World War II era that saw the formation of the art and the rise of its early stars such as Son House, Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. He passes that claim onto 95 year-old David "Honeyboy" Edwards.

Crank the AIC and Long Live Layne and Mike

2011-03-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late to the wake here, but yeah, the original Alice In Chains bass player Mike Starr is dead, probably due to drugs. As you no doubt already know, this makes him the second original Alice In Chains member to have died, following Layne Staley's death in 2002, also drug-related. I have nothing new or interesting to say on the topic of drugs or mortality, so that's not what this post is about. On the off chance that you're new to the band and haven't been to a blog that's done something similar but better, here's an Alice In Chains mix for you. It's short and focuses more on the organ-rupturing, impenetrably thick, detuned sound the band was famous for than its melodic side. All the band's releases prior to its recent comeback album are represented: the LPs Facelift (1989), Dirt (1992) and Alice In Chains (1995) and EPs Sap (1992) and Jar of Flies (1994). Layne Staley sung backing vocals on tracks 4 & 7 and lead vocals on the rest and Mike Starr played bass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9. The tracklist and link are below.

1. God Smack (Dirt)
2. Man in the Box (Facelift)
3. Junkhead (Dirt)
4. No Excuses (Jar of Flies)
5. Sludge Factory (Alice In Chains)
6. Angry Chair (Dirt)
7. Brother (Sap)
8. Head Creeps (Alice In Chains)
9. We Die Young (Facelift)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZQTGPNPX
All tracks 219-228kbps AAC

Extempore #7: McLusky

2011-03-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Not having McLusky around hurts music.

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

2011-02-20T21:52:00.000-08:00

I think Radiohead might be the only band left whose album releases are still an event to me. Then again, they're probably the only band from my formative musical years (about 1995-2000) still releasing albums of any import. I don't light candles and drink a glass of port the first time I listen to a Radiohead album, but I do listen to it on the best stereo system available to me and make sure I'm not interrupted. Then I repeat the experience on headphones. There's an alternating pattern with each post OK Computer album (ie each one whose release I've had to wait for) that I've only just noticed: Kid A (2000) and Hail to the Thief (2003) took a while for their charms to become apparent to me, whereas Amnesiac (2001) and In Rainbows (2007) were more or less an open book. The King of Limbs is consistent with this pattern...I think.

Headphones are definitely the best way to experience The King of Limbs. You don't need Sennheiser 555s like I have, but I implore you to upgrade if you're using the pathetic Apple earbuds. The opening track "Bloom" makes more sense this way - it's more textural, which is important considering it's pretty much all percussion, loops and vocals. "Good Morning Mr. Magpie" continues the electronic bent in a more straightforward way and is pretty underwhelming, and later on, "Feral" embodies the anti Kid A straw man "it's all bleeps and shit!"

I should point out that I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the "OMG WHERE ARE TEH GUITARS?!" Party. I respect Radiohead's musicianship more than enough to implicitly trust them and follow them down whichever musical avenues they're inclined to go down, as long as they do it well. "Lotus Flower" channels their electronic impulses in the right direction, sporting a minimalist groove that neither assaults nor sedates the listener and makes Hail to the Thief track "Backdrifts" sound ornate by comparison.

It's the back half, kicked off by "Lotus Flower", that has impressed me the most so far. It's here that you'll also find standouts "Codex" and "Give Up the Ghost". Both are extremely simple, the former based on a few chords from a modulated piano and the latter an equally sparse acoustic number with a strange, looping counter melody that sounds as if Thom is singing "don't love me". Whatever you say, man.

As an event, I found The King of Limbs underwhelming, but then what is one listen? When you've been listening to albums, especially Radiohead albums, as long as I have, you learn not to put too much stock in first impressions. Some of them need time to reveal their secrets, and I'm willing to put in that time. And whether it takes eighteen months or four years, I'll be waiting to see what the next one holds.

FUCK YEAH

2011-02-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

2011-02-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is an amazing return to form after The Hawk is Howling. Mogwai did just about everything wrong on that album, chiefly forgetting their finely honed sense of structure in favour of songs that didn't justify their considerable length and underproducing their live instruments while experimenting with electronic sounds. Hardcore abandons the electronic aspect and doesn't quite follow through on the prospect of traditional "songs" such as the couple on 2006's Mr. Beast - the vocals are few, far between and fucked up. What it does do is expand the Mogwai sound in its own way. It's the most upbeat Mogwai album in...well, ever, and only occasionally relies on the soft-loud dynamic they've fallen back on so many times before. It's mostly loud, and the more maudlin moments, when they come, feel earned. Hawk's experimentation locked out the listener and tested their patience with its long, meandering jams. It was very much a "you can either get into it or you can't" dichotomy. Hardcore, on the other hand, sounds as if it was a very liberating exercise and it lets the listener in on the fun. The very Neu!-sounding "Mexican Grand Prix" and the exuberantly fuzzy "Rano Pano" are probably the biggest surprises. Perhaps the best thing of all is that drummer Stuart Braithwaite - a model of restraint, but more by circumstance than by choice lately - gets to cut loose like he hasn't in ages.

Top Ten of 2010

2011-01-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here it is, and only two months into the new year.

10. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

I'm not sure I want to meet people who think The Arcade Fire have had a consistent career. They're probably the sort of intense, tightly wound people who can't even enjoy Spongebob. The Surburbs is the kind of Grand Statement you'd expect from a bunch of guys who championed Obama even though they couldn't vote for him, but it's better than Neon Bible because despite its apocalyptic allusions, it doesn't sound as if they thought the world would end if it didn't end up exactly as they'd imagined.

9. Janelle Monae - The Archandroid

Oh boy is this album pretentious, and that's coming from someone with The Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett in his list. But that's OK, because a) ambition is enough these days, even if it crosses over into pretension and b) this chick knows how to have fun with a concept. It's long, jumps from hip-hop to rock to showtunes to funk while maintaining cohesion, and its concept - something about robots and cryogenics - is handled with knowing winks where appropriate, but never treated as a mere novelty.

8. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

I don't think I can sum it up better than my review, so just look at that.

7. Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon

Some might say it's a coincidence that the only TV on the Radio side project I've listened to so far is the one from the white guy, but I swear it's just because I'm a vile racist. Maximum Balloon is stick-in-your-head-for-days synth pop, like Devo's latest album wanted to be.

6. Big Boi - Sir Lucius Leftfoot: The SonTale of Chico Dusty

I don't know much about hip-hop, so I don't know what to say about this album. Some might say it's because I'm new to the genre, but I swear it's just because I'm the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. When my Aryan minions wipe out the lesser races, I will have Big Boi killed last.

5. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Halcyon Digest divides its time equally between guitar-derived soundscapes and traditional songcraft. It's hard to say if it's their most accessible album, it's definitely not their most cohesive, and if you don't "get" Deerhunter, it's unlikely to change that. On the other hand, it confirms a certain predictability on Deerhunter's part: the pleasant predictability of knowing that they're likely to infiltrate many yearly top 10s throughout the decade.

4. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

James Murphy has been dropping hints that This is Happening will be the last LCD Soundsystem album - for example, if you put the CD in a modern car stereo, the title will read "Last Album". It'll be shame if that turns out to be true, but it'll be a hell of a high point. Fans might call it his "pop" album and detractors are probably calling it his "sellout" album; either way, "Drunk Girls" and "I Can Change" are massive hits in a paralell universe.

3. Owen Pallett - Heartland

It's a concept album about a 14th Century farmer in a land called Spectrum who is fully aware that he is a fictitious creation of Owen Pallett. "E" might be for "Estranged", but do you know what "P" is for? But who cares? You can attempt to decipher every nuance if you want, or you can just enjoy Pallett's string arrangment skills.

2. Autolux - Transit Transit

Call me superficial, but after a six year wait I could have used some more "Turnstyle Blues" type songs to bang my head to. Hey, I said "a few"; you've gotta admire Autolux for not falling back on the Future Perfect formula, especially when it worked so well. Instead, Transit Transit is more about weird loops and a slower, more contemplative (but never ponderous) approach. And Carla Azar still gets to drum the shit out of that bitch.

1. Richard Thompson - Dream Attic

Mediocre musicians, a man almost as old as my dad is kicking ass and taking names while you're doing the reverse. I'm not going to go into Thompson's history - you either know it or you should - but basically he's been around too long to be topping top 10 lists, especially on the merits of the album itself and not just because there was nothing better. Dream Attic covers all the bases, yet sounds more inspired than any Thompson's done in at least a decade. Hey, if I knew how he did it I'd be out there tearing it up folk rock style instead of sitting here and writing about someone else doing it.

Flux Capacitor: Sonic Youth - Goo (1990)

2011-01-08T02:11:00.000-08:00

In an effort to force myself to update this blog at least every two months, I'm kicking off a series of classic album reviews. Maybe yet another obscure blogger's take on a much written about album is the last thing you'd want to read, but too bad. You're not reading this anyway, statistically speaking. I'll try to stay away from albums that have been hammered into the collective consciousness for decades such as Sgt. Pepper's or anything by Led Zeppelin, but I make no guarantees. And yes, I am aware that Coke Machine Glow or Tiny Mix Tapes or some other e-rag I don't read has or had a similar feature called The Delorean, another Back to the Future reference. You just watch how much fucking sleep I lose over that. So anyway, I want to tell you about my friend Goo...

Many people would have you believe that Sonic Youth's catalogue can be divided neatly and chronologically into a few groups, along with its fans: the self-titled EP through Daydream Nation are for aging indie fans and noise fetishists, Goo through Washing Machine is the point where the alt-rockers started taking notice, the awkward A Thousand Leaves through NYC Ghosts & Flowers period is for diehard fans who own everything else, and Murray Street through The Eternal is the entry point for young indie fans. Such profiling is obviously true to an extent, but really, Sonic Youth fans are as diverse a group as any, and their perspectives vary greatly.

Goo and Daydream Nation have never been as separate in my mind as for others, but it's easy to see why Goo is often seen as a clean break. It was the band's major label debut and found them a whole new audience, helped greatly by slicker production. On the other hand, it deals in the same odd tunings, feedback, dissonance and frantic hardcore-ish riffs, is thematically obscure and is only short in comparison to Daydream Nation. Old fans yelled "sellout" purely on principle. I mean did they listen to the fucking thing?

Oh yeah, the songs. I almost forgot about that. Goo sure has 'em! Kim Gordon's best song is here ("Tunic") and "Mote" is not only Lee Renaldo's finest moment, but also probably my favourite Sonic Youth song. That guy consistently manages to reduce an album's elements to a simple form and make a song that's all the better for it, but for some reason he's only ever allowed one song per album, if that. Shenanigans! Chuck D wins the award for Most Pointless Guest Appearance Ever for "Kool Thing", but nonetheless, that song is the perfect bridge between the "art rock" Sonic Youth (for want of a far better term) and the more straight ahead model that would see out most of the 90s. It'd be "Smells Like Teen Spirit" if there was no "Smells Like Teen Spirit". And by extension, Goo is the perfect primer for Nevermind, the production opus of future Sonic Youth collaborator Butch Vig; less accessible, sure, but built on the same clean, powerful sound (Steve Shelley's drums are rarely as prominent as they are here and on the Vig-produced follow-up Dirty), and, more importantly, similarly grand and ambitious, two traits that would be in increasingly short supply for rock music throughout the next two decades.

Extempore #6: Eep

2010-12-27T02:46:00.001-08:00

Regularly updated blogs are for pussies.

Turn Me On, Dead Man

2010-12-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Please forgive the lateness of this post, but "Yesterday", as we all know, was the 44th anniversary of the death of Paul McCartney. Often referred to as "one of the four Beatles" in recognition of his contribution to the band's great success, McCartney died of auto-erotic asphyxiation at the age of 24.

Ten Great EPs

2010-12-08T03:30:00.000-08:00

To say that the EP is becoming a lost art is stating the obvious. More to the point is the fact that I was born in the wrong time to appreciate them. There are probably many classic EPs from the 60s, 70s and 80s that have been lost to the ravages of time. I've probably absorbed some of them through reissues and compilations, and if that's the case, you probably won't see it in this list. This list is for EPs I enjoy in their own right, on their own terms. There are some obvious ones I've left out, and in most cases I've done so to allow space for some less appreciated EPs.

Alice in Chains - Sap (1992)

For most of its existence, Sap has been most readily available with its successor Jar of Flies as a 2CD set. Both are mostly acoustic and make great companions. Jar of Flies is an excellent EP and well deserving of being included in this list, but I chose Sap because it is the more concise of the two. Ignoring the goofy secret track, Sap is four tracks long, each of them excellent. It's hard to pick out a single highlight when presented with the anesthetising dirge "Am I Inside", the melancholy "Brother", the almost bluesy "Got Me Wrong" and the supergroup singalong "Right Turn".

Augie March - Waltz (1999)

Waltz obeys the two rules of releasing a second EP before your debut full length: it has to be better than the first EP, but also has to leave room for the LP that follows to refine your sound even further. Having said that, "Rich Girl" and "The Mothball" have seldom been surpassed. By anyone, I mean.

Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place in the Country (2000)

After the classic, more than hour long Music Has the Right to Children, Boards of Canada proved they could work in a more limited space. In contrast to the serene nature of the music, the EP and track titles and the artwork were inspired by David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.

The Breeders - Safari (1992)

EPs typically don't sell well, and this 12 minute one, released a year before The Breeders' breakthrough Last Splash LP, didn't fly off the shelves. However, it become a cult favourite and matters greatly to me because within it is my favourite Breeders song "Don't Call Home", an initially mostly acoustic number that climaxes in a squall of noise.

Deerhunter - Flourescent Grey (2007)

Deerhunter is one of the few bands around these days that really understands the EP format and how to best utilise it. The sound is appropriately somewhere between the second half of Cryptograms and Microcastle, and the title track is arguably the best song the band had written up to that point.

Gomez - Machismo (2000)

Gomez followed the overlong Liquid Skin with a concise EP whose character was unlike its predecessor or any other Gomez release. The title track uncovers new ground with its use of samples and effects, but it's the 13 minute Meddle-esque closer "The Dajon Song" that elevates this EP to exceptional status.

Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls & Marches (1981)

Arranging for the six songs that comprised the original tracklist of this EP to all appear on a single release brings to mind the setup of The Usual Suspects. It was a very strong lineup to begin with, but then Rykodisc reissued it two extra tracks, including the band's debut single "Academy Fight Song". An EP just isn't supposed to have two songs of the caliber of "Academy Fight Song" and "That's When I Reach For My Revolver", but then Matador reissued the EP again in 2008, adding another two tracks, this time putting all four bonus tracks at the front. It's more of an album than an EP that way, and it's almost as good as their debut LP Vs, and despite its relative obscurity and lack of easy availability, of theoretically wider appeal, leaning as it does closer to the punk side of post-punk.

Radiohead - My Iron Lung (1994)

Every Radiohead EP after their debut LP is a roundup of b-sides and/or other unreleased tracks, but that's usually not a problem when you're talking about a band whose castoffs are better than most band's album tracks. The songs span a few years; the very Sonic Youthy "Permanent Daylight" had plenty of time to have been included on Pablo Honey (and would have been one of the best songs on it if it had), while "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong" looks ahead to the atmosphere of OK Computer.

REM - Chronic Town (1982)

This is probably the most obvious selection here, but justifiably so. Chronic Town is such a clear portent of what was to come that you'd swear REM recorded it after their third album, put "1982" on it and surreptitiously slipped it into record store shelves. If there's one criticism I have of Chronic Town, it's that the mix is a bit timid and reluctant to put the band's obvious talent on full display. Peter Buck's serpentine arpeggios, Mike Mills and Bill Berry's secretly hard working rhythm section and the enigmatic mumble of the young Michael Stipe are all here; Chronic Town isn't a record of a band searching for its sound, it's a record of a band that has found it and is ready to improve on it.

Spoon - Soft Effects (1997)

As great as A Series of Sneaks is, it just doesn't have the energy of Telephono. Soft Effects, released in between those two albums, definitely does. It traverses the entire sphere of the Spoon sound of the time, from the terse pop song "I Could See the Dude" to the fuzz-heavy "Get Out of the State".

Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

2010-12-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

This is the first Swans album in over a decade. I don't know what their earlier stuff sounds like, but this album sounds like what might have resulted if Iggy Pop had a twin brother, a crazy, reclusive preacher who came out of hiding to record a hardcore album.

Johnny Cash - Ghost Riders in the Sky live (from the Live at Montreux DVD)

2010-11-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

Bob Dylan - The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964

2010-11-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

This entry in the Bootleg Series is number 9; I don't know why it took Columbia 19 years and that many volumes to release 47 tracks from Dylan's gestational period as an artist while they saw fit to release a rarities collection spanning 1998-2006 two years ago. Apparently only 15 of the 47 tracks haven't shown up in other versions either on official releases or earlier bootlegs, but as I haven't heard any of the other entries in the bootleg series (barring the relatively recent live albums), this isn't an issue for me.

It seems Dylan started churning out original material at a rapid rate following his covers heavy debut in early 1962; although some of the non-LP tracks borrow melodies from traditional sources, only "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" is a cover. Not only is more than half of 1963's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan here in demo form, but also four from 1964's The Times They Are a-Changin' (including the title track) and even a piano version of "Mr. Tambourine Man", which eventually showed up on the acoustic half of 1965's Bringing It All Back Home. These demos are lyrically and compositionally identical to their well known counterparts; the main differences, besides fidelity, are in the nuances of Dylan's performances. Befitting a protest song, Dylan's staccato strumming on "Blowin' in the Wind" is more pronounced on the Freewheelin' version than the version presented here.

The non-LP tracks find Dylan at various stages of his transition from folk juke box to protest singer with an original voice and showcase an array of influences, such as Mississippi John Hurt in the fingerpicking on "Seven Curses" and Big Bill Broonzy or any number of post Robert Johnson, pre T-Bone Walker delta blues artists on "Ballad for a Friend". "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" and "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" are early versions of what would become "I Shall Be Free #10". "I Shall Be Free" (included here) is an early version of "Bob Dylan's Blues", which doesn't share I Shall Be Free #10/Bear Mountain/John Birch's chord progression, but features similar off-the-cuff lyrics. This explains the title and number of the Another Side track, and the #10 doesn't seem quite as hyperbolic anymore - perhaps Dylan really did write five other variations. "John Birch" is as good a satire as Dylan ever wrote. It sees him joining the then new John Birch society and conducting an increasingly narrowing search for communists within his own house.

The Whitmark Demos comes with a long booklet of photographs preceded by an essay, and if you're lucky, as I was, you'll also get a short live disc, which unfortunately contains nothing exclusive. Even without these bells and whistles, it's valuable both as a historical document and a listening experience.

He also cooks

2010-11-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I could use some comic relief after that last entry.

Eels - El Hombre Lobo/End Times/Tomorrow Morning

2010-10-26T03:24:00.001-07:00

Eels' 2005 double album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations was an improvement over Shootenanny (what wouldn't be?), but was also further evidence that Mark Everett's best songwriting is behind him. There's a good single album in there somewhere, but even it doesn't compare to Souljacker or Daises of the Galaxy, let alone the amazing Electro-shock Blues.

The reason I've decided to tackle these three albums all at once is that I've completely ignored Eels from then until now. The main reason for that is simply because I lacked faith that El Hombre Lobo and End Times would actually be any good, and the critical consensus backed me up. There's slightly more to it, though. A dead friend of mine was huge Eels fan. The first three albums were undoubtedly among his favourite albums, and he even find redeeming features in Shootenanny. He owned the live album Oh What a Beautiful Morning and saw them live in Perth, where he lived the last five years of his life. He was truly an acquired taste as a friend; prone to extreme exaggeration and unpredictable in mood, swearing profusely when someone screwed up his McDonald's order, yet stoically enduring the leukemia that took his life three and a half years ago. Blinking Lights was the last Eels album he ever heard, and it continued his tendency to identify with Everett as a kind of cosmic punching bag. Sure, we had other musical taste in common, and his death would not have stopped me from following any artist still producing high quality work, but in the case of a band experiencing diminishing returns, it just solidified my disinclination to keep following their work.

Self-plagiarism is nothing new to Eels, but El Hombre Lobo is different in that it equally borrows from 60s and 70s classic rock. "Prize Fighter" is interesting for just how well it recreates the guitar tone of mid 60s Rolling Stones, if little else. Elsewhere you can hear echoes (or just plain rip-offs) of The Kinks and The Stooges among others. The quieter numbers tend to recycle chord progressions as far back as Beautiful Freak. "Fresh Blood" is the undeniable highlight and the only really original song on the album. It takes the album's garage aesthetic and instead of being consciously bluesy or otherwise retro, slowly builds a dark mood over an ominous beat that wouldn't be out of place sonically on the perennial touchstone for Eels' darker side, Tom Waits' Bone Machine. Besides that, El Hombre Lobo sounds as hastily assembled as it was.

End Times is an improvement on El Hombre Lobo, but I had higher hopes for it. My favourite Eels songs overwhelmingly tend to be the ones inspired by Everett's personal turmoil. I guess I'm profiting from another man's misery, but Electro-shock Blues is my favourite Eels album, and that one was recorded after the death of Everett's entire immediate family. I don't know what circumstances, if any, prompted the darker tone and sparser arrangements, but it's not as productively miserable as I'd hoped.

Tomorrow Morning surprisingly bucks the trend I mentioned above and is the best of these three albums. The title implies a clean break from the past, and appropriately it's musically and lyrically the exact opposite of End Times. It takes a couple of tracks to get going, but coheres into the most consistent Eels release in a long time. It's no masterpiece and it's unlikely that there will ever be another one under the Eels name, but it's hardly a blight on that name either.

Nirvana - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (MTV Live & Loud)

2010-10-21T01:47:00.000-07:00

Extempore #5: Paul Hester

2010-10-13T02:36:00.000-07:00

Not long after Mark Linkous' suicide this year was the 5th anniversary of the suicide of Crowded House drummer Paul Hester. Every time I see the odd bit of footage, I can't help but think how obvious it was that he was in trouble. He just seemed too happy, as suicide victims often do. Hindsight is 20/20 and I'm not saying anyone in particular failed him, but it's just a shame.

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

2010-10-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

Just when you think Australian music's fixation with everything "retro" couldn't produce anything worse than Jet, you were right, at least for now: Tame Impala takes not sucking to extremes I haven't heard from an Aussie band since Dappled Cities. If you like the sound of Hendrix-style fuzz, delay and the EHX Small Stone with the colour switch up, you're gonna love this shit. Think of John Lennon joining the Jimi Hendrix Experience, taking the lead vocals and sharing the songwriting, and that'll give you some idea of what to expect. That sounds like the greatest thing ever, right? Well yeah, but more importantly, Tame Impala is a band, not a jukebox; they use their chosen aesthetic as a platform from which to launch their original ideas rather than compensate for a lack thereof. And just when you think that aesthetic isn't going to sustain itself long enough, they come up with an interesting innovation such as the brass-sounding guitar in "Alter Ego" which brings to mind Curtis Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack soaked in a particular narcotic that would be a cliche to mention. Basically, holy shit.

Happy Birthday, Kid!

2010-10-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Extempore #4

2010-09-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

For the 50th post on this blog, I would just like to say that ZEPPELIN ROCKS!!!

Les Savy Fav - Root for Ruin

2010-09-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

Tim Harrington's antics at Les Sav Fav shows are legendary. The first five rows will often get wet, and I ain't takin' about water. The former webmaster of We Want the Airwaves Back, a 5 foot nothing Asian chick, briefly interviewed him immediately post-show for the zine and claims that when she said she couldn't hear him, he grabbed her by the head and spoke directly into her ear. At the show I saw, played in an alley at the Laneway Festival in Sydney, he stripped down to his underwear (dressy by his standards), revealing himself to be covered in fake sunburn and rambled incoherently for a while - see the first video below.. During "Rome", he ran through the crowd (directly past me), climbed onto a wall and proceeded to abseil down it with the aid of one of the plants growing at the top. You can see him doing this in the second video. I'm told he didn't stick the landing as well as he appeared to and actually landed on a friend of mine nowhere near capable of supporting his weight. What does he have against short people? Anyway, it was the best festival set I'd ever seen until Neil Young played at the 2009 Big Day Out.

Even when he screams, which he's been doing less and less often these days, Harrington seems so much more restrained and thoughtful on record. Les Savy Fav's music has increasingly emphasised melody since Go Forth, but "Sleepless in Silverlake", which gently floats over the bassline for its duration, would have been inconceivable back then. Still, Root for Ruin rocks harder than 2007's Let's Stay Friends, and does so straight out of the gate with the up tempo "Appetites", which inexplicably borrows its closing phrase "I love you to the max" from Silver Jews' "Punks in the Beerlight".

Root for Ruin continues the holding pattern that Let's Stay Friends started, but is propelled along with the enthusiastic force of Les Savy Fav's early albums. Let's stay friends!

Electro-Harmonix Freeze pedal

2010-09-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

I want one.

Richard Thompson - Dream Attic

2010-09-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

Things haven't changed in the two minutes since I posted that Autolux review; I'm still pissed off about the state of modern rock music. Now a 61 year-old has come along to show all those mediocre practitioners of what passes for rock these days how it's done. They should be fucking embarrassed.

Granted, Richard Thompson is a fucking awesome 61 year-old. As the guitarist for Fairport Convention and a prolific solo artist since, he's made his Stratocaster squeal more times than you've had hot dinners. He's particularly known for transcendent live performances, and while Dream Attic isn't his first live album, it is his first comprised of all new material. I'm making it eligible for my yearly Top 10; right now it's number one and will be tough to budge.

Thompson's albums don't always start auspiciously, and so it is with Dream Attic. "The Money Shuffle" is a decent mid tempo rocker, but little more. Later on, however, the album becomes the best showcase in over a decade of Thompson's serpentine guitar solos. His most popular templates are there: the uptempo rocker ("Demons in Her Dancing Shoes"), the folk throwback ("Sidney Wells"), the mournful, glacially slow dirge ("Crimescene, "If Love Whispers Your Name") and the ridiculously catchy pop song ("Big Sun Falling in the River", which sounds a bit like "Wall of Death"). That is to say that that Thompson doesn't really break any new ground here, but his songwriting and performance are in such fine touch that it doesn't matter.

The deluxe edition comes with guitar and vocal demos of all of the songs - mostly acoustic guitar, vocals and nothing else. It's like having an alternative universe version of the album.

Autolux - Transit Transit

2010-09-08T04:51:00.000-07:00

It's been six years since Autolux's debut Future Perfect helped make 2004 one of the best years of the last decade for music. It wore its influences of the past proudly while pointing to a future golden age of rock music that unfortunately never happened. Were it released today, it would still show up the watered down crap that passes for rock these days, and, presumably, slip under the radar and not inspire anyone to do anything about it.

Transit Transit doesn't start with Carla Azar's speaker-shaking drums. She holds back for the most part this time, but she's still what elevates Autolux from solid to compelling. Transit Transit is slower than Future Perfect and could use maybe one "Turnstile Blues", but it's never ponderous and is one of the most interesting albums to come out in some time. It's Kid A to Future Perfect's OK Computer in a sense, and veers off into Sergeant Pepper's-like tangents were its predecessor was more straightforward. It will be a vital album to sustain me during the impending long, mediocre season of rock.

Phil Selway - Familial

2010-09-04T02:44:00.000-07:00

Until now, a Phil Selway solo album sounded like the punchline of a bad Radiohead joke. But now it's happened, and Radiohead members who haven't released something under their own name are now in the minority (get cracking, Ed and Colin!). Unfortunately there's not a cheap laugh to be had, because Familial isn't half bad. For starters, the boy can sing. He doesn't have anywhere near the range of Thom Yorke, but he wrings everything out of what he does have. His voice always has a hushed, Sam Beam-like quality, but he knows - probably due in no small part to Yorke - how to change the character of his voice to suit the song. He's also a decent guitarist and, although it can't be said that none of Familial's ten songs uses the same template as another, he has incorporated enough variety in the sparse, entirely acoustic arrangements that the album doesn't wear out its welcome. Familial is no Eraser or Bodysong, and let's face it, nothing is going to make the wait for the next Radiohead album more bearable, but as far as solo albums from the drummer go, it's one of the best.

Nirvana - Icon

2010-08-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

I've left that image its original size so you can see the tracklist and thus the pointlessness of this new Nirvana release. Apparently done raiding the vaults (for now), Geffen has once again turned to re-releasing the Nirvana songs we already know. With 20th the anniversaries of Nevermind and In Utero coming up, it seems likely that Geffen will reissue them and probably remaster them as Sub Pop did with Bleach. That's fine, because it's overt. Nobody will deny that they're going back to the well for a quick buck. Just make the reissues look pretty and maybe throw in a live disc and we'll happily fork out for more heavily compressed copies of albums we already own. In the meantime, why not liberate some bootlegs? Live at Reading is fantastic.

These are all the official studio versions, with the exception of the last two, which are culled from the equally widely available Unplugged in New York album, a trick Geffen already pulled on the self-titled compilation from 2002. These versions are all making at least their third appearance on a Nirvana CD (almost all of them having been released as singles) and at least one officially released alternative version exists of each of them.

The redundancy of Icon is one thing - a compilation by definition isn't going to offer you much that you can't hear anywhere else - but more importantly, it fails to adequately summarise Nirvana's career. The acoustic "About a Girl", as is the case on the live album from which it is taken, is the only track from Bleach included; so much for any young prospective fans hoping to get an idea of Nirvana the indie band that drove from its small logging town to Seattle to record an album for $600. So how about the effect that being blasted into the public consciousness had on the band musically? Unfortunately you only get a glossy cross section of In Utero. They left out "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" because it isn't one; ditto "Milk It" and all the other abrasive songs that hinted at what Nirvana album #4 might have sounded like. For all its faults, Nirvana acknowledged the existence of the 1992 odds 'n' ends collection Incesticide, but the same can't be said for Icon.

Do I think I can do better? Yes I do. My own tracklist follows. Normally I would make it chronological, but I don't think that's necessary for a band with only three studio albums to its name, plus given how overplayed the Nevermind singles are, I found it necessary to separate them in order to make them most effective. This is not a fan's mix, but a genuine attempt at a compilation that provides a cohesive listen while fairly representing the band's catalogue. It should stand alone as an enjoyable listen for anyone who likes it but doesn't wish to pursue the band's music any further, while providing those who do with a good idea of what to expect.

1. Aneurysm (BBC session version)
2. Blew
3. Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. Heart-Shaped Box
5. Negative Creep
6. In Bloom
7. Dumb
8. Dive
9. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
10. Lithium
11. About a Girl
12. Come As You Are
13. You Know You're Right
14. All Apologies

"Aneurysm" archetypal Nirvana and is a b-side on the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single. The version in my tracklist, however, is a 1992 BBC session recording included on Incesticide and is considerably superior. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" arrives early on and the listener has already heard three singles before the halfway mark. "Dumb" showcases a "kindler, gentler" Nirvana. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" represents the abrasiveness I mentioned earlier and for that reason appears when the listener will have already committed so as not to scare them off. This tracklist provides a balanced selection of tracks(4 songs each from Nevermind and In Utero, 3 from Bleach and 3 non-LP tracks) and can't be said to be a self-indulgent and obscure knee-jerk reaction to Icon - nine of the fourteen tracks have been previously released as the A or B side of a single. For that matter, nine of them appear on Icon in one form or another. It could be leaner, but three more tracks is a small price to pay to get it right.

In conclusion, my proposed compilation rules, while Icon is a piece of shit cash cow that you should physically avoid looking at in music shops. Whether you're a Nirvana-curious pre-teen-to-mid-twenty-something or a Gen X-er who never caught on back in the day and for some reason wants to rectify that now, you're too good for it.

Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (10th Anniversary Edition)

2010-08-30T22:57:00.001-07:00

What is there left to say? It was number 9 in my Top 50 Albums of the Decade and was the dying breath of American hard rock. There's no remaster job on this release, so you wouldn't buy it to replace your original CD or your eight track from the 70s or OKeh Records wax pressing from 1930 or whatever you have. No, the carrot here is a decent bunch of b-sides and a very decent Reading Festival set. Nice, but a DVD would have been nicer.

Extempore #3

2010-08-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

Did MTV think it could fool anyone by adding some metal and gangsta rap to VH1's playlist and calling it MTV Classic?

Black Sabbath - War Pigs (Live in Paris 1970)

2010-08-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

The Arcade Fire - The Surburbs

2010-08-02T01:08:00.000-07:00

The last two Arcade Fire albums both featured in my Top 50 Albums of the Decade - Funeral at #4 and Neon Bible way back at #47, and I wonder now if I was too kind to the latter. Neon Bible raised the emotional stakes and it was hard not to know that while listening to it. Fortunately, The Suburbs reveals a more relaxed Arcade Fire - a relative term if there ever was one. They're still carrying the weight of the world, but it doesn't seem as though it's going to crush them at any minute.

The Suburbs is The Arcade Fire's longest album to date, but that extra space is used not to make a grander statement than ever before, but rather the give the band room to breathe. When you've got sixty-five minutes to play with, you don't have to pour your heart and soul into every second of it. It also gives them room for some interesting genre excursions. "Month of May", the band's most punk-oriented song, is more diversionary than anything else, but oddly, "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)", a heavily disco-infused song featuring Regine Chassagne on vocals, is one of the album's standouts.

The Suburbs is unlikely to rise to classic status and I'm unlikely to object to that. It does indicate, however, that The Arcade Fire is determined not to live in the shadow of its one accepted classic.

Extempore #2

2010-08-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Steel drums: fun to play, horrible to listen to.

Extempore #1

2010-07-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

If people had any goddamn sense, Metric would be the biggest band in the world.

Justin Bieber

2010-07-26T03:05:00.000-07:00

Justin Bieber is a vapid, androgynous automaton.

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street (Deluxe Edition)

2010-07-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

The Rolling Stones made Exile on Main Street for somebody's sins, but not mine. It's a double album in the same way that London Calling and Daydream Nation are double albums: they don't fit onto two sides of vinyl, the dominating format at the time. Double albums often come at the peak of a band's creativity, a time when to put out another dozen or so songs seems like a facile endeavour - it's surprising that the late 60s produced as few as it did, it being at time when an album a year was standard.

Exile on Main Street is many people's favourite Rolling Stones album, but I'll take its predecessor, the concise ten song set Sticky Fingers over it any day. Exile lacks the restless eclecticism of London Calling and with Keith Richards as chief songwriter, doesn't play host to the warring personalities of its members as does The Beatles (The White Album). It doesn't even bother with a concept, as The Wall did, and not much of it is given over to experimentation. Pared down its best tracks, Exile makes a very good single album, but still not one that matches Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers. "Tumbling Dice" vs "Brown Sugar"? No "dice". "Sweet Black Angel" vs "Wild Horses?" Fuck off.

The Deluxe Edition comes with a bonus disc out outtakes. The quality is surprisingly high for such a disc and demonstrates that the Stones weren't the best judges of their own material; Exile could have been improved by replacing some of its duds with some of these songs, especially "Plundered My Soul".

You might be wondering why I hate Exile on Main Street. That's a question I can't answer, because I don't hate it. I actually like it quite a bit. I just like some other Rolling Stones albums a hell of a lot more.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: The Way to Go Out/Under One Roof/Natural Selection (DVD)

2010-07-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

"But I know you want more!" as Tim Shaw would have said 17 years ago, and as it so happens, although I've reviewed all 14 CDS in the Horn of Plenty box, there are still the 2 DVDs to go.

The Way to Go Out (1985) is an appropriately raw-sounding show, originally released on VHS as well as CD. It's not for casual fans, but it's a good one to have if you love The Jaws of Life as much as I do. You could probably find better bootlegs on the internet these days though.

Under One Roof (1998) is a Sydney show from the band's farewell tour. The sound and picture are superb and the set is a decent representation of the band's entire career. Mark Seymour's voice had smoothed out considerably by this point, but he was able to revisit his 1984 self and belt out a convincing "42 Wheels".

Natural Selection contains every promo video the band ever did. Whoop-dee-doo. It's best for multiple sittings if you're likely to get weary watching 18 videos by the same band. There's not much else to say except to note that "Carry Me" is same version (both the audio and video) as that featured in "The Way to Go Out".

Well, now I've reviewed the entire contents of the Horn of Plenty box. I'm going to go to sleep for a month.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: Cargo Cult/Mutations/Spare Parts

2010-07-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

We're into the odds and ends now, but that's by no means a bad thing. Cargo Cult (2008), exclusive to Horn of Plenty, rounds up three EPs: World of Stone (1981), Payload (1982) and Living Daylights (1987 - a tribute to Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond from the same year, perhaps?). The CD actually contains a fuckup: it stars with "Run Run Run" instead of World of Stone's title track, then crams "Watcher" and "Loinclothing" into one track. That EP is a dry run for the slightly better structured Krautrock-aping style of the debut; the title track basically repeats itself until it passes the seven and a half minute mark. Payload (1982) is presumably made up of Fireman's Curse outtakes, but the latter two songs would have been more than welcome there. It's a sonically fascinating EP more than anything else, and Doug Falconer is at his heavily percussive best. Fast forward five years and Living Daylights gives you even more options besides the Fate tracks for imagining how much better What's a Few Men? could have turned out, or perhaps Human Frailty if they'd waited a bit. "Inside a Fireball" is some catchy shit right there, and either album would have benefited from its presence.

Mutations (2005) shares its name with a Beck album that was disingenuously marketed by Geffen as not being "officially" the next entry in his catalogue. Hunters & Collectors' Mutations is accurately described as such, however, given that it is a b-sides and rarities collection. It's better than most, too. "I'm Set Free", unlike "Run Run Run", is a Velvet Underground cover, and a creative one at that. "Know Your Product" is more perfunctory and a more predictable choice of cover; just as The Saints probably felt obliged to cover Motown classics when they availed themselves of a horn section, Hunters in turn probably thought it was a waste not to cover the horniest of Saints songs. "Mind of an American" is a disappointing way to finish off the collection. It's an unimaginative jab at US foreign policy - better leave that to Midnight Oil and stick to local concerns.

Spare Parts (2008) is the far less substantial and far more asterisk-ridden of the two rarities collections. Everything here besides the original 1984 version of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" is either a live recording or a remix. Meh.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: Living in Large Rooms/...And Lounges

2010-07-06T04:04:00.000-07:00

Given Hunters & Collectors reputation as a live band, the Living in Large Rooms and Lounges 2 CD set (1995) is a valued possession amongst completists, a group that technically includes me now. The problem inherent in all live albums, though, is that the better they are, the more they remind the listener that they are no substitute for having actually attended the concert in question or one like it. People who have seen Hunters & Collectors live, a group which will probably never include me, will likely tell you that about these albums. Hell, the audiences at the two shows in question will tell you as you listen by way of their rapturous applause and sing-along shenanigans.

Living in Large Rooms documents a typical pub show from 1995. As such, the early stuff is fairly represented; the period of 84-89 accounts for roughly half the set. "42 Wheels" explodes through the speakers, demonstrating that the band was still capable of an extraordinary performance at this late stage of its career, and it makes me wish they'd included "The Slab" and "Inside a Fireball" among others. The later stuff demonstrates that the band was able to judge the relative merits of its own material, or at least its suitability to a live setting; see "Easy" in particular.

...And Lounges is a strange album indeed. An acoustic Hunters & Collectors show, eh? To paraphrase Dr. House, "that makes sense...if you don't think about it for more than two seconds". The conceit necessitates the balance to shift towards the band's later, more ballad-heavy material ("True Tears of Joy, "Courtship of America") and greatly renders inert the earlier stuff ("When the River Runs Dry" loses its electric thunder and "The Slab" makes no sense at all). "Betrayer" and "Holy Grail" sound fine, and of course it would have been baffling to exclude "Throw Your Arms Around Me", but I prefer the Human Frailty version. The most confounding aspect of the album is the inclusion of "Say Goodbye" as a secret track, having already included it in the main set as well as that of its sister album.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: Cut/Demon Flower/Juggernaut

2010-06-26T03:11:00.000-07:00

Cut (1992) is a far better welcome to the 90s for Hunters & Collectors than it could have been. It's a conscious step away from the last couple of albums, with a harder sound and more interesting beats. "Holy Grail", probably the best known Hunters song next to "Throw Your Arms Around Me", is about the band's failure to crack the US market; helped by its tried and true chord progression ("More Than a Feeling" transposed to a different key), it's ironically the closest thing they had to a hit over there. Oddly, "True Tears of Joy" is, according to Wikipedia, the band's biggest hit, yet I'd never heard of it until I bought the box set.

Demon Flower (1994) ushers in the band's "ho-hum" period. Their lives show justified their continued existence well enough (see forthcoming reviews of Living in Large Rooms/And Lounges), but Australians, particularly the youth, were looking to You Am I, Silverchair and Powderfinger for their fix of local music. "Betrayer" holds its own amongst the best of the Hunters catalogue and claims some of the best brass work since the early days, but the most of the rest of Demon Flower is fair to middling at best.

Juggernaut (1998) is no improvement over its predecessor. Mark Seymour had by now smoothed out the gravel in his vocals to the point where he was hardly recognisable as the same that graced any of Hunters' early albums, so when the band steers away from the middle of the road to rock, it's not as effective as it once would have been. When they do make it work, such as in "Mother Hubbard" and especially "Wasted in the Sun", which combines the slow-burning intensity of some of the downbeat entries in the band's early catalogue with the pop sheen of Cut, it really works. However, this doesn't happen often enough throughout the album to distinguish it significantly from Cut or Demon Flower, nor make it a worthwhile sendoff for such a locally lauded and globally under-appreciated band.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: What's a Few Men?/Ghost Nation

2010-06-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

What's a Few Men? (1987) is the point at which Hunters & Collectors had completely transitioned from Krautrock fanboys to pub circuit mainstays. The almost Midnight Oil-sounding single "Do You See What I See?" is strategically positioned as the second track, and it still is, and was then especially, one of the band's biggest hits. What's a Few Men was re-released in the US as Fate, a calculated but unsuccessful move to try to break into that elusive market. The tracklist is also different: four tracks are missing, with four added in their place, and the tracklist has been shuffled around. The album's proper title is taken from A.B. Facey's memoir A Fortunate Life, and the title track is one of those missing from Fate, which is a shame; it stands out of context as a decent World War I song and is a better ballad than "Around the Flame". Also missing are the decent "Still Hanging 'Round", the excellent, bluesy "Give Me a Reason" and the so-so "Breakneck Road". Fate's extra tracks, appended to all CD versions of What's a Few Men? vary; "Back on the Breadline" and "Something to Believe In" genuinely deserved an Australian release (and, having said that Fate failed to appeal to the US market, "Breadline" did receive a lot of airplay on US alternative radio stations), but "Wishing Well" and "Real World" don't stand out here and I don't imagine they would if I were to recreate Fate with some iPod programming.

Ghost Nation (1989) starts with a bit of a red herring. The verses of "When the River Runs Dry" are led by the rhythm section, like in the old days, while the choruses are of the catchy variety that fans were used to by then. It was their biggest hit at the time, deservedly so, and another song on high rotation on many alternative radio stations in America. As with some other Hunters 7 Collectors albums, Ghost Nation starts off well but then loses momentum, but at the moment I consider it a notch above What's a Few Men?.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: The Jaws of Life/Human Frailty

2010-06-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

The Jaws of Life (1984) is the point at which Hunters & Collectors started fashioning their jams into traditional song structures. I'm totally on board with that; hmmm, what's that other band I listen to that's influenced by Can and Talking Heads and named after a song by one of them?

"42 Wheels" kicks off with - you guessed it - the sound of a car engine starting, bringing to mind the noise experiments of Sparklehorse a decade later, before that glorious rhythm section stomps out an almost "Rebel Rebel" type rhythm, accompanied by slide and tremolo guitar that goes on to punctuate most of the album. Highlights include the downbeat "Hayley's Doorstep" and an excellent cover of my favourite Ray Charles song "I Believe to My Soul" (shortened to "I Believe").

Human Frailty (1986) takes definite steps towards the Hunters sound that would pack the pubs throughout the remainder of the 80s and 90s, streamlining the songs into more radio-friendly fare. 1985 single "Throw Your Arms Around Me" shows up here and was again released as a single (not for the last time); though barely charting in the top 50, it became one of Australia's most beloved songs of all time, although it sounds out of place here, being Mark Seymour's first attempt at a sensitive pop song. Falconer's drumming is calmer here, but interestingly, Archer changed his bass style little, and didn't really need to.

Hunters & Collectors - Horn of Plenty box: Hunters & Collectors/The Fireman's Curse

2010-06-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

I got this recently for $50, which I'm pretty sure is about $150 cheaper than when it came out. It's ridiculous value, really - 14 CDs and 2 DVDs. Everything the band recorded over its 16 year career is in there. I intend to review all of it piece by piece, starting with the self-titled debut and its follow-up The Fireman's Curse. I was already familiar with these two albums, having bought the first (with the World of Stone EP appended) and downloaded the second, but the rest, barring certain popular singles, will be all new to me.

I was surprised to learn that Hunters & Collectors took its name from a song by Can from its late era that I haven't yet familiarised myself with, but the first two albums more than elucidate the connection. Hunters & Collectors is bookended by its two best tracks, "Talking to a Stranger" and "Run Run Run". Both revel in the locked groove motif of Can, but "Talking to a Stranger" filters it through Gang of Four, sounding a lot like "What We All Want", only better - a big call considering that that's my favourite Gang of Four song. Hunters & Collectors is one of the best Australian albums of the 80s - another big call, as that was a great decade for "Oz Rock" - and John Archer and Doug Falconer were together a greatly underrated rhythm section.

The Fireman's Curse is slight step down from its predecessor. It's less consistent and the lyrics are more oblique than ever (not that the lyrics were the point at this stage). Still, it begins and ends as strongly as the debut, and is probably already one of my favourite albums of 1983.

Groovin' the Moo 2010 - Canberra

2010-05-16T03:25:00.001-07:00

It was a festival in Canberra. A festival. In Canberra. A festival. In Canberra. I might have paid $90 to bash my head against the inside of a porta-potty just to support the idea of a FESTIVAL in CANBERRA, but the lineup was sufficient that I didn't have to.

Spoon brought it as usual, and I was impressed by Tegan & Sarah's simple yet exacting pop, but less so with Vampire Weekend - I just don't care for their music.

The event was organised excellently. In contrast to the abortion that was Soundwave, the area was more than sufficient and the food and drink vendors were many and various. I hope the Canberra leg of Groovin' the Moo was popular enough to justify it returning in the future, but doesn't get popular enough to ruin it. If I want to tempt heatstroke while pushing my way against a tide of pissheads to get to the end of a long queue for a bottle of water, I'll go to a festival in Sydney.

Silverchair performing "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" during their hits-laden set:

Swizzle Relizzle

2010-05-04T01:32:00.000-07:00

I want to make my non-readership aware of the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. It's a non-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing financial assistance for musicians in need of medical care. I'd love to see the organisation be a well-known resource for musicians in need of mental health care if there's even a chance that it would prevent suicides such as those of Mark Linkous and his friend Vic Chessnut, but it's having enough trouble just keeping afloat right now. Linkous' family is accepting donations in lieu of flowers to be donated to Sweet Relief and the organisation helped out Chessnut with his physical health care in the mid 90s by means of a tribute album.

You've probably heard Pearl Jam's cover of Victoria Williams' "Crazy Mary", an and and off live staple of theirs; Williams was the subject of another Sweet Relief tribute album. Here's a clip of a performance of that song:

Four Tet - There is Love in You

2010-05-03T22:37:00.001-07:00

There's a 12 second track in the middle of this album called "Pablo's Heart" which consists entirely of an in utero baby's sampled heart beat - I assume Pablo is Kieran Hebden's then unborn son. If that's the case, the early days of the Olsen Twins pale in comparison with this blatant exploitation. Poor Pablo will have to endure cries of "hey, it's that heartbeat kid!" for years to come. Those twelve seconds will define him, even though any doctor who hears later samples of his heartbeat will be able to tell you that it's much stronger and measurable by a stethoscope. I hope he at least sues for royalties on the grounds that the sample was used without this authourisation.

But let that not overshadow the fact that there is a new Four Tet album, because Hebden likes to take his time in between those things. The cheesy "folktronica" tag is less applicable to There is Love in You, as the beats are straighter and it's full of sampled vocals and digital glitches, but just when you think it's going to be an entirely non-organic affair, some free range guitar shows up towards the end. There is Love in You begins and ends exceptionally strongly, but lacks variety and dynamics in comparison with previous Four Tet albums, suggesting Hebden might have been better off making an EP out of the best four or five tracks and aiming to release a new full length later in the year. It's still, however, a worthy if not exceptional entry in his catalogue.

Bill Callahan - Rough Travel for a Rare Thing

2010-05-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

You couldn't walk far without tripping over a live album in the 70s and 80s. They were quickly made and usually ugly, usually featuring an immodest photo of the performers on the front and a tracklist and very little else - sometimes not even the venue or date - on the back. Many were unceremoniously transferred to CD in the 80s and can be found for $5 in bargain bins; the original vinyls are even cheaper. The fact that hardly any of them ever sold in great numbers didn't seem to matter, but now that anyone can make a bootleg and soundboard recordings aren't hard to come by, they're finally becoming less common. Some live albums are actually very good, and Rough Travel for a Rare Thing is one of them. If we gain nothing else from the fact that there is now an official Bill Callahan/Smog live album, it's that the excellent show it documents, from a small club in Melbourne, is now beknownst to more than just a few hundred Bit Torrenters who may have already downloaded it.

So what makes a great live album? An excellent performance? Check. But of course any band capable of delivering such a performance should be able to do so on a regular basis, and presumably there are many shows that could have stood in for this one. Well chosen set? Check. Five of the eleven songs here are from the classic A River Ain't Too Much to Love, the final album released under the Smog name - it's therefore not a well balanced set, but the inclusion of any songs from that album is always a very very good thing. The set also features the great earlier songs "Bathysphere" and "Held". Creative re-arrangment of the material? Check. The instrumentation is all acoustic, yet "Bathysphere" still rocks and a clever string arrangement stands in place of the electric riff in "Held". Breaking down the divide between the performer and the listener? Check...er, wait. How does one do that in a way that a studio album doesn't, despite occupying the same medium and being just as "live" in your lounge room? Amiable banter between songs? There's hardly any of that here, but neither is there in Nirvana's Live at Reading, and both that and this are, in my opinion, two of the best official live albums ever released. No, the trick is that the divide between the best artists and their listeners doesn't exist. That was always the point with Callahan, but here you know the songs were recorded in the kind of venue you probably frequent yourself whether there's a band playing or not, and if you close your eyes, you can pretend you're there.

RIP Mark Linkous

2010-03-07T03:49:00.001-08:00

This is pretty close to the top of "things I hoped I'd never write". Just days after announcing that his Dangermouse/David Lynch collaboration Dark Night of the Soul would be physically released this year, Sparklehorse leader Mark Linkous, the man who survived death once, has committed suicide. I'm not into discussing what music means to me, but I didn't put Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain at #16 and It's a Wonderful Life at #19 in my Top 50 Albums of the Decade for shits and giggles. Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider would fare very well in a list of my top 50 albums of the 90s.

Linkous' suicide eerily recalls that of Elliott Smith, similar not only in method, but in its sudden yet definitive nature. He made literally the most life-changing moment a person can make in an almost instantaneous way that can't be taken back. It was apparently set off by a text message Linkous received while his judgment was compromised by alcohol, which just compounds the seemingly random nature of the whole thing. What if he hadn't been drinking? What if he'd talked to his friends about it instead of wandering off alone? What if he'd had his fucking phone switched off? These questions are pointless to ponder, but I have to. Maybe it's my lack of exposure to death; only one friend and one close relative of mine have died. Neither committed suicide and I've only met one person who did. Death is not something I hope I ever get used to.

The mortality of rock musicians never ceases to amaze and sadden me. Sometimes I think I should just give up and listen to pop music, but for a while there even Britney looked as though she might not last.

Decade Top 50

2010-01-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. I'm now wanted in three US states, I've done things to Simon Cowell that I'm not ready to talk about, and some guy in Yass is going to wake up tomorrow without his wooden leg, but finally I have managed to compile my Top 50 Albums of the Decade. This thing has driven me to the brink of madness and beyond. As I type this I actually haven't finished it, and I'm still finding that this album should be ten places lower while that album is vastly superior to the one five places above it.

50. Deerhoof - The Runners Four (2005)

With Radiohead, Spoon and Modest Mouse's entire output for the decade appearing on this list and accounting for more than a fifth of the fifty, I'm glad in a way that those early Deerhoof albums haven't sunk in yet, because the band's idiosyncratic genius is hard to ignore. The Runners Four probably isn't Deerhoof's best album of the decade, but it is a great summary of what happens when a Japanese chick who could be Damo Suzuki's granddaughter raised on bubblegum pop, a guitarist who can't stick to the same style within a single song and one of the world's best living drummers make an album together.

49. Guided By Voices - Isolation Drills (2001)

Isolation Drills is the best post-Tobin Guided By Voices album, combining Bob Pollard's pop instinct with higher fidelity than before, courtesy of producers Shnapf and Rothrock, the go to guys for artists looking to make that exact transition - see Beck's Mellow Gold and Elliott Smith's XO.

48. Deerhunter - Microcastle (2008)

Microcastle stripped the abrasiveness from Deerhunter's sound to reveal subtleties that were already there but which you never heard before, such as the fragility of Bradford Cox's voice, the classicist techniques he employs in his songwriting and the fact that he doesn't use a delay pedal to do his work for him - just to enhance it.

47. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007)

When your first album is called Funeral and it's THAT good, there's a chance it'll also be awfully portentous. The Arcade Fire had to come back hard, and they did. Everything matters on this album, which provides its inertia but is also its major shortcoming. Listening to Funeral in the pre Neon Bible days, it was easy not to notice that even on grandiose numbers such as "Wake Up", the band actually seemed to be having a lot of fun. When they finally loosen up on Neon Bible, the album's almost over and the song on which they choose to do so is a re-recording of a song from their self-titled debut EP.

46. McLusky - McLusky Do Dallas (2002)

With the state of rock and roll so lethargic this decade, Welsh band McLusky was the perfect band to come along and give it a much needed kick in the head. McLusky claims most of the best song title of the decade, and some of those are here: "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues", "Fuck This Band", "Alan is a Cowboy Killer".

45. Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier (2004)

Carbon Glacier is Veirs' darkest album and more a followup to 2000's The Trials of Travails of Orphan Mae than its immediate predecessor Troubled By the Fire, a detour into a more mainstream vein of alt-country. "Gonna dig a coalmine, crawl down deep inside" she sings towards the end of the album, but you feel as if she's been singing from down there the whole time.

44. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Streetcore (2003)

It really fucked me up when Joe Strummer died. I mean really really. It was nice to know that a guy could go from being an intense man who was kind of an asshole and believed his own bullshit to the laid back, utterly unpretentious guy he became once he let go of the mantle of frontman of the only band that mattered. It wasn't so goddamn fucking nice to know that a guy like that could die suddenly for no reason. I didn't just want a posthumous album so I could wolf down the remnants of the final phase of his career; I needed one in order to move on. It has to be said that if anyone's going to leave an album unfinished, it might as well be a bunch of guys whose finished products always sounded like they were just having fun playing music, because that spirit would have shined through even if Streetcore were just a set of 4 track demos.

43. Les Savy Fav - Go Forth (2001)

While not the equal of 1999's The Cat and the Cobra and not delivering on the promise of the Rome (written upside down) EP the following year, Go Forth is no less forward-thinking and experimental.

42. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat (2004)

I actually first heard The Fiery Furnaces on Triple J's old roots show. It wasn't the most obvious move to release a 76 minute album full of multi-part epics with almost no blues influence less than a year later. It's a tough slog the first few times through all the musical left turns and lyrics about typewriter menders, research volunteers and boat captains slain for their precious cargo of blueberries, but that's just the kind of commitment you have to make to this band.

41. Spoon - Gimme Fiction (2005)

When you look over a decade of music, you see that a band can take three years to follow up an album and still stamp its name right across the decade. Gimme Fiction is Spoon's slickest album to date, and, like every Spoon album, sounds not quite like any other, yet distinctly "Spoon-like". The title recalls the 2007 Will Ferrell comedy Stranger Than Fiction, which, along with some older Spoon tracks and compositions by Britt Daniel written specifically for the film, used instrumental versions of some of the album's songs.

40. Metric - Live It Out (2005)

39. Metric - Fantasies (2009)

It wouldn't be a top 50 without a Broken Social Scene offshoot, and so here's a pair of albums from Emily Haines' band Metric. It annoys me that in this day and age, a band that can unironically title a song "Stadium Love" is considered "indie", and I would even go as far as to say that Metric is the Blondie of the present day. Fantasies is the more synth heavy of the two albums, but both are about crunchy guitars and boisterous vocals paired with contrasting introverted lyrics - the latter perhaps being the dealbreaker for a mainstream audience. Fantasies is the better of the two, but Live It Out scores one of the best riffs of the decade with "Glass Ceiling".

38. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)

After the relatively maximalist Gimme Fiction, Spoon returned in 2007 with the sparse, 36 minute Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the Kill the Moonlight to Gimme Fiction's Girls Can Tell, slapping us in the face just when we thought Spoon were about to go all wizened on us. Jim Eno's production is neither hi-fi nor lo-fi, crystal clear yet sparse. His drums have never sounded better, and the passages of reverb and slapback echo are an interesting new touch. It makes the wait for Transference in January 2010 all the more interesting. What will they do next? No, really?

37. Dappled Cities Fly - Zounds (2009)

"Something should be holding us back", they sing on Zounds' first single "The Price", and they're right; something should be. No way should they be allowed to get away with writing a song that sounds like a cross between "Come On Eileen" and "More Than a Woman" unscathed. But that's Dappled Cities Fly for you. Their 2004 debut displayed the confidence of a band entering its second decade, if not the songcraft; that arrived with Granddance and continues unabaited on Zounds. Losing excellent drummer Hugh Boyce forced the band to rethink its approach, hence the more extensive use of keyboards.

36. Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You (2001)

This and Fugazi's The Argument share more than just their release year. Both are by long-running post-hardcore bands looking to expand their sound; both preceded a hibernation from which neither band will likely emerge, leaving these albums as their only entries for the 00s.

35. The Roots - Rising Down (2008)

The Roots continued walking the darker path they laid out with Game Theory, although it's apparently nowhere near as badass as being Jimmy Fallon's house band. The lyrics not only deal with black concerns, but with global concerns from a black perspective. Guests include

34. Fugazi - The Argument (2001)

The Argument continues the increasingly melody and groove-oriented direction of latter day Fugazi, and in the perfect sendoff for this singular band. "The Kill" and "Strangelight" are slow, moody pieces that the band simply couldn't have written earlier in its career, but it could hardly be said that the band had lost its edge, much less sold out.

33. Beck - Sea Change (2002)

If Odelay marked a line between DIY Beck and professional Beck, Sea Change was the beginning of another level of commercialism. Sea Change is stylistically closest to the mostly acoustic One Foot in the Grave, but in contrast to that album's sparse four track recordings, the songs on Sea Change are steeped in Nigel Godrich's signature swirls, reverb and backwards samples. Beck's only mistake was to try to have his cake and eat it with "It's All In Your Mind", a re-recording of a One Foot in the Grave song which forsakes the simplicity that made it great in the first place.

32. Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004)

The follow-up to The Moon and Antarctica took four years - not unusual given that the previous gap between album was three - but considering that the first three years were spent in a state of writers block that yielded only "Dance Hall", it stands to reason that the acclaim for M&A got to the band. Isaac Brock's existential musings and the band's interesting instrumental tangents are still present, just confined in a smaller arena. The tone runs the gamut from the Coke ad-worthy "Float On" to the Tom Waits influenced "This Devil's Workday".

31. Autolux - Future Perfect (2004)

T-Bone Burnett was a strange choice to produce this band's debut, which combines an enveloping My Bloody Valentine sound with the immediacy of recent Sonic Youth. Burnett, however, applied common sense, emphasising Greg Edwards' guitar and Carla Azar's drums over Eugene Goreshter's unremarkable bass and vocals.

30. The Roots - Game Theory (2006)

Game Theory is darker both musically and lyrically than previous albums, perhaps haunted by the spectre of J Dilla, who died before its completion. Dice Raw, Malik B and Jack Davey guest star, and Radiohead, admired by The Roots since OK Computer, finally gets sampled on "Atonement". Guests include Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Mercedes Martinez.

29. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (2003)

Oh, Inverted World might "change your life", but Chutes Too Narrow is The Shins' real masterwork.

28. Spoon - Girls Can Tell (2001)

Spoon's first and last major label album is slicker than its two predecessors, but maintains the beautiful sparseness that still defines the band's sound. Opener "Everything Hits At Once" is a masterpiece of pop minimalism, "Me and the Bean" is made to sound so Spoon-like that you'd never know it was originally written by obscure Austin band The Sidehackers and the whole album is the sound of Spoon creating its signature style.

27. Tom Waits - Blood Money (2002)

Playwrights were Tom Waits' muse last decade, and Blood Money is based on a 16th Century German play about a soldier driven insane by medical experiments he volunteered for in order to pay the bills. The anachronistic "Coney Island Baby" aside, Waits most uses the text as a springboard for Bone Machine-like existential musings ("Misery is the River of the World, "God's Away on Business").

26. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)

I was reading the essay Robin Pecknold wrote for the liner of this album about the power of music to evoke memories and the purity of those memories. When he mentioned listening to Kid A as a teenager, I thought he must have somehow made a mistake - he wouldn't have been a child in 2000. Then it hit me: he's younger than me. I have to get used to that as I get older, but it's hard to believe a 23 year-old's songwriting could be so advanced and his perspective so worldly, recalling the agelessness of an early 70s Neil Young.

25. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (2002)

After Spoon's major label deal went south in a bad way, the band went back to its DIY roots and pushed its sparseness to an almost primal point. "The Way We Get By" and "Someone Something" will be blueprints for indie rock in the 10s.

24. Battles - Mirrored (2007)

Electronica label Warp has taken on a few rock bands in recent years, but Battles is not as different from the label's bread and butter as, say, Maximo Park. They're a rock band in a general sense and use the traditional instruments, but they "rock" purely on their own terms, playing long jams and utilising on-the-fly digital manipulation and self-sampling. They're especially amazing to watch live, due in large part to Ian Williams' simultaneous guitar and keyboard playing and John Stanier's Duracel Bunny on speed drumming performances with the cymbal set far above his head.

23. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007)

Modest Mouse added some bloke named Johnny Marr to its lineup for this album, though you wouldn't know it from the way he refuses to insinuate himself into the music. We Were Dead is Modest Mouse's longest and hardest rocking since The Lonesome Crowded West, but the singles
"Dashboard", "We Got Everything" and "People As Places As People" are even catchier than "Float On".

22. Portishead - Third (2008)

I can barely believe it either. Not only did Portishead release an album in 2008 that didn't go down as a Chinese Democracy style curiosity piece, but they managed to make what might be the album of their career. It's as if they never left, yet Third is unlike Portishead's two previous albums, not least because it strips away the trip-hop element on which the band made its name.

21. Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)

The aesthetic of Sam Beam's mid-period recordings is that of a Southern bluesman sitting on his porch and singing about death, but his alternate tunings and whispery vocal quality suggest Nick Drake. Beam's fingerpicking is excellent, but his simpler compositions ("Passing Afternoon, "Sodom, South Georgia") are often his most effective.

20. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (2003)

Hail to the Thief is more erratic and has less character than any other Radiohead album since Pablo Honey, but it also has the best back half of any other than OK Computer. That's where you'll find the classic single "There There", the blissfully fuzzy "Myxomatosis" and the harrowing closer "A Wolf at the Door". And hell, the front half ain't bad either. Sure, "Sail to the Moon" is bland and "Go to Sleep" stops just when it's getting interesting, but "Backdrifts" eventually reveals hidden depths in its aching spareness, and of course those Bends hangers on wanted thirteen more of "2+2=5".

19. Sparklehorse - It's a Wonderful Life (2001)

It's a Wonderful Life showcases a slower, darker version of Sparklehorse; it's the sort of album you would have expected at the present point of the band's career. It's overlong, but a couple of excellent rock songs and guest appearances from PJ Harvey and Tom Waits keep it from getting stale.

18. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill (2004)

It would have been a double album, and it's not hard to hear it as Smith's White Album even as it is. There are more rock songs than usual, juxtaposed with heavily orchestrated pop songs of the sort he added to his repertoire late in his career and the more intimate sort of songs he was known for earlier on.

17. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (2002)

Geogaddi is not quite the equal of its predecessor, the classic Music Has the Right to Children, but Boards of Canada remained the guardians of awesome sounds coming into the noughties.

16. Sparklehorse - Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (2006)

Sparklehorse albums don't come around very often - if you count Dark Night of the Soul, the collaboration Danger Mouse, there were only three this decade - so for Mark Linkous to release anything mediocre would be fatal. Fortunately, DFYLITBOAM doesn't bear any evidence of writer's block at all. The album doesn't play like a career summary, but rather like a true hybrid of his first two albums and It's a Wonderful Life. Danger Mouse helped out on a few tracks while they planned a proper project, and his contributions are like a high def facsimile of Linkous' intentionally weird production choices in his early work.

15. Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)

Amnesiac's songs were recorded during the same period as those of Kid A, and although they're more immediate and, yes, guitar driven, the album is as jarring an experience in its own way. Amnesiac lays claim to Radiohead's two best songs of the decade: the rhymically bizarre piano tune "Pyramid Song" and drop D rock song "I Might Be Wrong".

14. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000)

With a first hour like this, it's amazing that Damon Gough turned out to be such a one album wonder. He was a sort of indie Harry Nilsson back then, jumping from folk to rock to balladry and many points in between as if he just couldn't keep still. I don't know what happened after that, but he went from being a guy who could make a song called "Pissing in the Wind" sound sincere to a guy who made everything he sings sound sincere because it's all so goddamn earnest.

13. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf (2002)

It was about time to give up on a rock renaissance by the time this was released, but Queens of the Stone Age dug their heels in and showed that just like a tree planted by the waterside, they shall not be made to look antiquated next to The Strokes.

12. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

Far more than a mere marketing gimmick, In Rainbows was the perfect Radiohead album to see out the decade. There are no classics on par with "Pyramid Song" or "Idioteque", but In Rainbows is a good deal shorter and more focused than Hail to the Thief (the band's shortest album other than Pablo Honey, in fact) and based on a more guitar-driven sound that even the most ardent fans of post OK Computer Radiohead welcomed.

11. ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes (2002)

Source Tags & Codes is perhaps the last great post-hardcore album, or at least the last before the genre started to fade from the musical landscape. Sure, Trail of Dead is still around, but it seems unlikely that the band will ever top this, its second album. It's a rare example of such a hard-edged sound making it through the 90s intact. "Relative Ways" and the title track, had they been hits, could have aided that sound's survival further into the decade, but it wasn't to be.

Tom Waits - Alice (2002)

It's unfortunate that Waits' best album of the decade is based on demos recorded in 1992, but them's the breaks. Alice is the soundtrack to a play about the Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carrol to you) and his obsession with 12 year-old Alice Lidell and its inspiration for his signature novel. Naturally, Waits goes off script and manages to incorporate everything from genetic freaks to gay underwear models into the lyrics.

9. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)

If I made a top 50 of the 90s (which I probably should one day), it'd be full of albums like this. It's telling, then, that American hard rock's MVP of the decade was released while the decade was young and masterminded by a veteran of Kyuss, which dated back to the 80s. Bart Simpson once suggested that America needs another Vietnam to thin out the ranks of Gen Xers who love irony and kitsch. While sending out members of Generation Y to die for their Government is something I'd be on board with if it were necessary, I think we should first drop another Nirvana on them and watch it do to emo what it did to hair metal.

8. Mercury Rev - All is Dream (2001)

The title is appropriate on many levels; for me, it evokes the kind of dream you might have if you listen to this album's predecessor Deserter's Songs late at night. It's the negative print of that album, all darkness where the other was light, with the occasional patch of light contrasting the other's darkness. It's also its undeniable equal.

7. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)

Goddamn, there sure is a disproportionate amount of great indie rock coming out of Canada these days. Wolf Parade is Spencer Krug, who sounds kind of like David Byrne, and Dan Boeckner, who sounds a lot like Beck. They only share songwriting on one song, and vocals on none. The slow songs on this album go on forever - "that song doesn't normally go for three hours, but we got into a serious groove there, and we kinda forgot how it ended", to quote the real Beck (on Futurama). Much is made of those slower songs, especially Krug's, but Boeckner also lays claim to three of the decade's best rock songs: "It's a Curse", "Shine a Light" and "This Heart's On Fire".

6. Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love (2005)

It's appropriate that Bill Callahan retired the Smog name after this album, because it completes his journey from smartass kid with a 4 track to aged-hardended folkie. In a decade the worshiped the young solo artist, my favourite solo album came from one who has been recording since the late 80s.

5. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

You certainly don't have to be a Radiohead fan to read this blog, but you're way outside its demographic if you don't know the circumstances surrounding the writing, recording and release of Kid A, none of which I am going to rehash here. What I will say is that despite being undeniably a product of its time and place and those circumstances, Kid A still sounds as if it could have been recorded yesterday. Whereas The Bends and Pablo Honey borrowed from some of the most influential rock and pop touchstones such as U2, Pixies and My Bloody Valentine, Kid A visited others that might be equally influential in parallel universe - Brian Eno, Aphex Twin and DJ Shadow, as well as jazz and Krautrock.

4. The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)

The Arcade Fire's music differs for me as a listening experience from that of Wolf Parade and Metric. I protest the very labeling of those two as indie rock, because to me, they're just about unabashed rock. When I listen to The Arcade Fire, on the other hand, I'm very aware that I'm listening to indie rock; I just don't particularly care. I mean if being boxed into genre with as many connotations as indie rock is the price to pay for being able to write such beautiful, grandiose and idiosyncratic music, it's one I'd be willing to pay.

3. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

Though not consciously a concept album, The Moon & Antarctica is a long existentialist trip, the effect of which is not unlike a road movie or a novel by an astronomy-obsessed Steinbeck or Kerouac. Isaac Brock plays both everyman and narrator, shaking his fist at his cosmic impotence - his losing battle for privacy, perverse pride in being an asshole and powerlessness to stop the fictitious death of his sister at the hands of a pack of feral dogs - while telling us that "it takes a long time, but God dies, too" and "the stars are projectors". If you're expecting the closer "What People Are Made Of" to be some kind of payoff, you've been had: you've been waiting 70 minutes to be told "they ain't made of nothin' but water and shit".

2. Augie March - Strange Bird (2002)

The consensus is that Strange Bird is the best Augie March album, and although I prefer Sunset Studies (which must mean...yeah, you guessed it), maybe that's because it has sentimentally grandfathered its way into my subconscious. What's not debatable is that Strange Bird is an extraordinary strong set of songs with more potential singles than either of Augie March's last two albums. But, of course, in the wake of "One Crowded Hour" from Moo, You Bloody Choir, you already know this. I'm still trying to get used to that. If I have to share Augie March with a bunch of myopic Hottest 100 voters, I can at least hold onto the fact that none of those people were interested in them when they were at their best.

1. Augie March - Sunset Studies (2000)

Some bands are lucky enough to be able to write a career-defining song that connects with both the critics the masses on a large scale; a "Take Me Out", you could call it, or a "New Slang". It took Augie March three albums to write theirs ("One Crowded Hour"), despite the fact that a large portion of Sunset Studies ("Hole In Your Roof, There Is No Such Place, Tulip, Here Comes the Night and the previously released "Asleep In Perfection") was deserving of that distinction. Augie March just isn't a singles band, and listening to Sunset Studies means a commitment almost as long as a CD's capacity.

Top 10 Albums of 2009

2010-01-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've been far too busy compiling my Top 50 Albums of the Decade (coming soon, really) and haven't been focusing on my yearly top 10, so here it is without any commentary.

1. Dappled Cities Fly - Zounds
2. Metric - Fantasies
3. The Thermals - Now We Can See
4. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
5. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
6. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
7. Alela Diane - To Be Still
8. Nathan Oliver - Cloud Animals
9. Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next EP
10. Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Nathan Oliver - Playground Lies official video

2009-11-21T19:54:00.000-08:00

From the album Cloud Animals (Pox World Empire, 2009)

2010 Big Day Out announcements 1 & 2

2009-11-18T02:15:00.000-08:00

Selena Gomez and The Scene - Kiss and Tell

2009-10-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

I am a 30 year-old man. I want to have sex with Selena Gomez. There, I said it. Now that my cards are on the table, you have no reason not to believe that I can separate the musical from the physical. Hell, if I couldn't do that, I'd have a bigger pop music collection than HMV. That, plus a shitload of Andre Rieu.

Disney stars get the albums they deserve. Observe the efforts of Miley (bratty, slightly precocious FM rock or wholesome pop depending on the moniker) Demi (indistinct angst) and Jonas Brothers (impossible to classify, as I can't make it 30 seconds through any of their songs) and you see what I mean. It makes sense, therefore, that Selena's is by far the best of the bunch. She's always been an anomaly within the Disney universe; confident without being pretentious, effortlessly marketable without ever phoning it in. She had a show built around her, but not a career. Anyone can sing that they "want to take the road less traveled down", but Gomez can do so without fear of a backlash of claims that, to quote Homer Simpson, "she lied to us through song". She's not a marketing genius, just a 17 year-old girl who acts her age and doesn't want to use music as a front to promote herself as worldly or hyper-sexual (sigh).

Kiss and Tell's sound is built as much around synths as guitars, and doesn't equate energy with superficiality. The songs that push that manifesto are the band's strong suit, while ironically, attempts at a more mature rock sound such as "I Won't Apologize" come off as disposable. Thankfully there's only one genuine ballad ("The Way I Loved You"), because that song is even further removed from what makes Kiss & Tell a sporadically good listen. The lyrics are rubbish at every turn, of course, but knowing that they're mostly contrived rather than autobiographical (which now you do) actually makes them more palatable; not trying to make us feel sorry for her when she's in an enviable position is a shrewd move on her part. The crunchy guitars on the more upbeat numbers could pass for Metric, and while Selena is nowhere near as expressive as Emily Haines and The Scene lacks the comparative chops, they're still leagues ahead of any of their Disney contemporaries.

"Falling Down" official video:

My list for the Hottest 100 of All Time

2009-06-21T00:17:00.000-07:00

After copious coffee, hang-wringing and pulling out what little hair I have left, I've finalised my submission to Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time. The songs below are not my ten favourite songs of all time, because I literally cannot compile such a list; instead, I used some self-imposed rules in order to arrive at a list that strikes a balance between obscurity and populism, isn't skewed towards any particular genre or aesthetic and represents my personal taste while being universal enough to have an impact on the poll. Inevitably, some biases had to prevail; it's the White Boys club, and mostly rockers at that, and Kenny Rogers is conspicuously absent. But then that's why it isn't called Triple J's Encyclopedia of Music.

Rulez:

* Each decade from the 1960s onwards must be represented by at least one song.
* No artist may appear more than once on the list.
* Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana don't count as two separate artists.
* I may include two dark horse candidates. These songs can be as obscure as I damn well want, but must appear on official studio albums that are currently commercially available.
* It puts the lotion on its skin.

Songz:

Bob Dylan - Mr. Tambourine Man from Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs from The
Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

Black Sabbath - War Pigs from Paranoid (1970)

Television - Marquee Moon from Marquee Moon (1977)

The Clash - London Calling from London Calling (1979)

Neil Young - Rockin' in the Free World from Freedom (1989)

REM - Drive from Automatic for the People (1992)

Weezer - Say It Ain't So from Weezer (Blue) (1994)

Radiohead - Paranoid Android from OK Computer (1997)

Smog - Let Me See the Colts from A River Ain't Too Much to Love (2005)